The Thread Between Us
by niclabelle
Summary: Steve's ex-girlfriend is visiting Hawaii and ends up needing his help. How does he feel and what will he do? Steve/OC
1. Chapter 1

DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Hawaii Five-O" or any of the characters

Author's Note: This is my first attempt at fan fiction. I'd love to see some reviews and hear what people think, the good and the bad. :)

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Commander Steve McGarrett looks up from his computer expectantly as Detective Danny Williams walks through the door to Steve's office in the 5-0 task force's headquarters. Danny begins speaking before the door has barely closed behind him.

"Hey, just picked up a call. Our presence is requested to investigate a stabbing at the Waikiki Hilton."

Steve looks back at his partner confused. That's odd he thinks. Getting up from behind his desk he shakes his head. "Okay… but HPD doesn't want to handle it themselves? What's the reason they want us involved?"

"Actually, the reason is not a what, but a who. The stabbing Vic asked for you personally." Danny answers him with a smirk.

"Really?" he didn't expect that. "I take it they're not too severely hurt then. What's the name?"

"Umm," Danny pauses to look down at the name written on the notepad in his hand. "Let's see, the Vic's name is… Emily Burns."

Steve's face goes pale and his stomach does a nasty flip. He stops in mid stride, frozen in place, to stare at Danny. "What?" he stammers out. Steve takes in a deep breath. "Emily's here? She's in Hawaii?"

Did Danny just say Emily is in Hawaii and has been _stabbed,_ his brain hammers?

Danny apparently did not expect this dramatic of a reaction from his partner. An expression of utter surprise settles on his face. Eventually he recovers and begins firing questions at Steve. "Um, apparently? So I take it you know this girl? Who is she?"

"I…" Steve shakes his head willing it to clear. He realizes Danny is still looking at him, expecting an answer. "She's a friend," he finally says.

With a start Steve can feel his legs again and is suddenly in motion. He brushes past Danny and heads for the door. "You said she was stabbed, is she okay? Where did they take her?" He directs these questions over his shoulder, moving briskly toward the exit and his car.

Whatever has gone on between them in the past doesn't matter right now. He needs to get to the hospital as quickly as possible to verify that she's okay.

Danny turns to follow Steve, rushing to keep up with him. "I don't know. She was alright enough to ask for you, so she was conscious at least. They took her to Hawaii Medical Center. Where do you know this friend from?"

Steve ignores Danny's questions. Obviously Danny would love to have more information, but Steve has no intention of giving it right now. He pauses on his way out in front of Chin and Kono. "We got a call. I need you guys to head over to the Waikiki Hilton and check out the scene for me. Find out what HPD knows and I'll give you a call from the hospital."

He doesn't wait for a response from them, Steve turns and hurries toward the door.

"Okay, got it boss," Kono directs to his retreating form.

"Danny?" he can hear Chin ask behind him to a rushed Danny Williams who is attempting to keep up with his partner.

Danny responds, "I don't know. Trust me I don't know. I'll be in touch when I get something out of him."

The door to 5-0 headquarters swings shut behind Steve and the sound of their conversation is gone.

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The electronic glass doors to Hawaii Medical Center's Emergency Room open as Steve rushes through them. Once again, as in leaving 5-0 headquarters, Danny is following, trying to keep up with Steve. Steve heads straight for the nurse at the admitting desk.

"Commander McGarrett," Steve flashes his badge at the admit nurse, "I'm looking for a patient Emily Burns?"

"Yes Commander, down there behind curtain three." The nurse points to the furthest partitioned area, in front of which a uniformed officer stands guard.

"Thanks" Steve says to the admitting nurse as he and Danny head toward curtain three.

Steve shows his badge to the officer on guard duty who nods back. He places one hand on the curtain, but pauses trying to collect his thoughts. He turns back toward Danny, just looking at him for a second. Finally he manages to ask, "Could you give me a minute?"

Danny cocks his head to the side, seeming a bit confused, but nods his head at Steve. "Yeah sure, whatever you say. I'll just be out here, umm, waiting I guess." He points to a spot on the floor and moves to stand there, leaning back against the wall, "Right here."

"Yeah, okay." Steve nods back quickly then disappears behind the curtain.

Sitting on the hospital bed is a petite blond woman. She is wearing a hospital gown with a blanket draped over her legs and has white gauze bandages covering her neck and right forearm. The ER bed is set up with the back raised so that the woman is sitting up. Her head is reclined against the bed and her eyes are shut.

Steve freezes just inside the curtain. It feels like the bottom has dropped out of his insides. In his life, he has been well trained to handle many difficult situations and still remain calm and rational. He handles dangerous criminals on a routine basis for his job. He has survived in a war zone for Christ's sake. Seeing his beautiful, and suddenly very fragile looking ex-girlfriend in a hospital bed covered in bandages is, however, not one of the situations he's been trained for, and he feels anything but calm and rational.

Emily Burn's eyes fly open when she hears the curtain rustle and she realizes that she's not alone. She stares silent for a moment, her eyes focusing.

"Steve?" she asks drawing in a shaky breath, a look of relief spreads across her face.

A hand wraps itself around Steve's heart and squeezes painfully at the sound of her voice. He tries to smile back at her but his face is unconvincing. "Em, Jesus, are you alright?" He takes a few steps toward the bed.

Emily continues to stare silently before finally nodding in a nonchalant manner. "Yeah sure, I'll live I guess." She looks back at him briefly and tries to give a smile but ends up biting her lip, and then looking down at her lap. Eventually she looks back up at him, "actually I've been better," she says, her voice breaking mid-sentence.

"Your neck," he approaches closer, gesturing to her neck.

Damn it, her fucking neck is all he can think, his pulse racing.

"No, I know," she says. "It's okay now, they put in stitches."

"And your arm?" he's trying unsuccessfully to keep his voice from shaking.

She does a better job smiling at him this time, maybe because she can read in his face how freaked out he feels. "It hurts like hell but there's no permanent damage done according to the doctor," she reassures him.

Steve takes in a deep breath then exhales, panic receding from his face. He continues to stare at her but manages a nod. "Okay good. That's good." His pulse drops a bit closer to a sane level.

He pauses searching for the next words. "I'm not sure, should I say it's nice to see you?" he laughs quietly.

She hitches in a breath then laughs too, "I don't know, but I'm certainly glad to see you." Even under the circumstances, hearing the sound of her weak laughter after years without it feels good.

He catches her gaze then smiles at her warmly. Suddenly she presses her lips together in a tight white line, her eyes filling with tears. She swallows several times, her gaze moving away from him to a spot on the wall behind and he can tell she's forcing herself to hold on.

The hand around his heart squeezes again.

Steve closes the distance between himself and the bed. He sits down on the edge of the bed and places his hand over hers. "Not okay, huh?"

She swallows and turns her eyes away from the wall and back to him. "Not really," she says quietly.

Steve hesitates staring at her silently, unsure how he should behave. Finally he cautiously reaches out and wraps his arms around her waist pulling her gently toward him. She lets herself get pulled into him and after a moment she circles her arms around his neck dropping her head to lay her cheek on his shoulder. He holds her for a moment then runs one hand slowly up towards her neck and down again, rubbing her back. He feels some of the tension in her body release and she tightens her hold on his neck, snuggling closer to him. She takes in several shuddering deep breaths then exhales and his shoulder grows damp as she lets her tears go.

"It's okay now. I've got you," he murmurs in her ear.

He's trying to ignore how ridiculously good it feels to hold her in his arms. Come on Steve, he silently commands himself, the girl almost died, get a grip. But it does occur to him that the warmth of her body has magically made the tightness in his chest disappear.

He holds her for a few minutes while her crying subsides.

"Em?" he asks quietly.

She sniffles and pulls back from him sitting up. His hand drops down to rest on her lower back, not ready to completely let her go yet. Her eyes catch his and she gives him a small weak smile.

He reaches his hand up to her face and brushes a stray piece of hair behind her ear. "What happened?" Steve asks.

"I… I don't know." She shakes her head, eyes bewildered. "I was coming back to my room at the hotel. I had just opened my door when someone grabbed me from behind."

A spark of anger rushes through him, and Steve could almost swear he sees red flash before his eyes, like a bull in a Spanish bull fighting arena.

"What did he want?" he manages to spit the question out.

"He said he wanted me to give him the Richmond file. That's a client of mine. I'm just out here to investigate some routine real estate purchasing for him."

"That's all he said he wanted?"

What the hell he thinks?

"The file, that's all he said. He wanted me to hand over the Richmond file. That's _all_ he said." She places her emphasis on the word all, and raises her left hand to rub her eyes.

"And did you give it to him?"

"No, of course not," she drops her hand, eyes focusing on Steve's face.

Steve nodded, "So that's when he stabbed you."

She shook her head, blond hair flying. "No, that's not when he stabbed me. He stabbed me after I maced him."

Steve drew his head back from her, his eyes wide. "You maced the guy with a knife to your throat?"

"What?" The pitch of her voice raises and she rolls her eyes. "He shouldn't have grabbed me while my hand was in my purse. I grabbed the can. You're the one who bought me the mace to protect myself remember?"

"Emily, protect yourself yes, mace the guy with a knife at your throat no." He squeezes his eyes shut, trying to choose his next words carefully. "Em, he could have killed you."

"Well yes, in hindsight I realize that it made things worse." She raises her hand to the bandage on her neck. "So fine, you're right, it might not have been wise on my part. I admit that now. Are you happy?" She lets out a huff. He opens his eyes to look at her and he can see her swallow.

He's trying really hard, but suddenly it's difficult not to think of how cute she is when she's annoyed at him. The memory of previous minor arguments and how they ended makes him flush red and he looks away from her.

When he speaks again his voice is softened. "I'm just happy you're okay." He reaches out for the hand at her neck but doesn't quite touch it. "So what did the doctor say?"

"He said I got lucky. Just needed a few stitches. A little bit deeper and to the right though," she laughs darkly, "game over."

He watches her, his face serious. "Did they tell you when they're letting you out?"

"Um, they said I was done. I just needed to wait for the cops."

"Okay, good so that means you should be able to go with me then. I just need to get someone to bring you clothes back from your hotel."

"Go? What about… wait you're the cops?" She looks at him, confused.

He stares back at her for a moment before realizing that she doesn't know anything about his life right now.

"Sort of, I'm part of a special task force from the governor. But like the cops yes."

"What about the Seals?" she asks, her voice concerned.

He looks at her trying to gage her reaction. "I'm still in the reserves."

"Oh," she pauses, "I didn't know."

He might have imagined it, but he thought he saw hope flash through her eyes. Don't go there man, a little voice spoke in his ear. What you didn't have enough fun the last time she broke up with you?

"Yeah well, this job is not quite the change of pace you'd imagine trust me." He laughs, standing up from the bed. "Let me go find your doctor and take care of a few things and we'll get you out of here alright?"

"Wait, Steve where am I going? I can't very well go back to the hotel."

"You can say that again."

He pauses watching her. The voice on his shoulder has moved inside his stomach and his jumping around shouting, don't do it, don't do it!

He takes a breath. "Don't worry; you can stay at my place till we figure this out."

She shakes her head, "Are you sure? I don't want to impose."

He can't help it. The fear from this morning that she had bled to death in some ambulance is too vivid his mind. He can't seem to put the distance between them that is probably reasonable.

"Am I sure?" He folds his arms across his chest and pauses till she looks up at him. He narrows his eyes. "Hmm, let me try to say this differently." He leans down so that his face is close to hers. "You'll be lucky if I let you out of my sight till we catch this guy. How's that for imposing?" He smiles at her.

"Oh well, since you put it that way," she laughs.

His face grows serious again. "Are there any phone calls you need to make?"

Why is there suddenly a cramp in his stomach damn it?

"Is there anyone at home you need to tell about all this?" He waves his hand around to indicate the hospital, and then points at her neck.

"Oh, yeah, I know I need to do that. I've been putting it off." Her eyes meet his. "Do you mind if I call from your place, if that's where I'm going? I need some time to explain calmly and not freak anyone out."

"Freak anyone out?" he laughs at her.

She lets out a small chuckle. "Freak anyone else out. Guess you already helped me meet my quota in that department today."

"Really, because I think I helped you meet your quota in the scared the shit out of someone today." He raises his eyebrows and tilts his head to the side smirking at her.

"Sorry," she says sheepishly, wrinkling her nose in apology.

"Uh-huh" he grins back at her. "Alright, I'm going to find the doctor now okay? Don't move."

"Okay."

He turns to leave.

"Steve?"

"Yeah?" He looks back at her.

Her eyes fix on his face. "Thanks."

He holds his breath for a moment before exhaling. "Yeah you're welcome." He smiles then turns and leaves through the curtain.

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Danny Williams stands facing him, arms crossed leaning against the wall opposite the partitioned area. His face is amused.

"Okay, so is there anything you'd like to share about the nice stabbing victim Steve?"

"Not now Danny, later. Help me get her out of here first."

Danny smiles, "Sure, whatever you say buddy."


	2. Chapter 2

DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Hawaii Five-O" or any of the characters

Author's Note: Thanks to all who've taken a look at my story. Thanks to those who have reviewed. This is a short one, but I had it done so I thought I'd post.

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A silver Chevy Camaro is speeding away from Hawaii Medical Center in the direction of the Waikiki Hilton. The car is weaving in and out of traffic. 5-0 Commander Steve McGarrett is driving and Detective Danny Williams is in the passenger seat, occasionally reaching out with his hand to brace himself on the car's dashboard.

Danny knows that he has seen Steve angry before. Hell, he would probably classify him in that category fairly often. But this time he could swear Steve is something he's never seen before, he appears completely unnerved.

Danny decides to risk his life further by talking.

"So Steve, I know you have an investment in this case, but I'm fairly certain your blond friend there wouldn't want you to get into an accident on her account."

Steve shoots Danny a dark look and Danny smiles back at him. Steve focuses back on the road.

"Okay, just saying," he adds.

Danny looks sideways at Steve again, waiting for him to say something.

Oh come on, nothing really? Throw me a bone here, Danny thinks, looking out the window.

"Sooo?" he tries again. Danny decides the best thing to do is just flat out stare at Steve till it pisses him off enough to talk.

Steve catches the look Danny is giving him, "So what?"

"What do you mean what?" Danny throws his hands in the air, exasperated. "Your friend, the blond, who is she? Spill."

Steve looks at him annoyed expression, voice flat. "Emily Burns, she's a lawyer in L.A. She's out here in business for a client. Someone broke into her hotel and stabbed her. Or did you miss that?"

Danny sighs in defeat. "No, I didn't miss that. What else?"

"What else like what?" Steve's voice rises a bit.

Good that means I'm getting to him, Danny smiles to himself.

"Well, how about like, how you know her, for starters?" Danny tries.

Steve's eyes are fixed on the road as he decides to swerve to the left and pass a slower moving car. Slower like only 15 miles per hour over the speed limit. Danny's hand shoots out to brace himself on the dashboard, yet again.

"Like I said she's an old friend," Steve finally adds.

Danny lets out a snort. "Oh, okay, uh-huh. I bet she is."

"What?" Steve looks at Danny his eyebrows contracting in irritation.

If he thinks Danny is actually going to let his go he's got another thing coming.

"Seriously man, you should have seen your face when I told you she was hurt. I thought you were going to pass out."

"Look we were…. She was…" Steve's voice trails off, not finding the right words.

Danny continues to stare at Steve waiting for him to continue. "Yes?"

"We were involved," Steve finally admits.

"Involved, well that's a word." Danny shakes his head. "I take you mean romantically involved."

"Uh, yes, like that yes." Steve shifts his hand on wheel, appearing uncomfortable. He avoids Danny's eye contact.

"So she's an ex-girlfriend."

"Umm, uh, yeah. Yeah she is."

"Ha!" Danny lets out a laugh.

"Excuse me, what does that mean?" Steve jerks his head to shoot daggers at Danny.

Whoa, if looks could kill.

"Oh come on, you're joking right? Man, how much do you know about my love life, past and current? Now compare that to what I know about your love life. I dare you to try and keep me from enjoying your discomfort."

Steve looks at Danny not speaking for a moment. "She just got stabbed Danny."

"Okay yes. You're right I'm sorry." Danny makes a conciliatory gesture with his hands. "That was insensitive of me."

Steve puts his eyes back on the road. "Uh-huh," he grunts.

Danny is silent for a minute.

"So what happened?"

"What?" Steve shakes his head, "other than her getting stabbed?"

"Nooo, you know that's not what I meant. I meant what happened, you and blondie? Why did it end?" Danny is watching seriously. He honestly just wants to know. It seemed like however it ended, that they were still on pretty darn good terms.

Steve exhales and pauses for a long while before answering. "You know, with my life. I was traveling around the world, away from home, and in danger a lot of the time. I had my own… obsessions. It just got in the way."

Danny waits for a second before saying anything. There's probably a better way he could say this, but this is Steve he's talking to, so he decides blunt is better. "So she dumped you."

"Look, she had a job offer in L.A. so she took it. She…" Steve shakes his head and lets out a small laugh. "Yeah, pretty much she dumped me."

"I'm sorry man, that's rough." Danny really means this. He likes to hassle Steve, partially because Steve asks for it in his opinion, but he feels bad for him just the same.

"She did ask for you today though," Danny points out.

Steve shakes his head again, more strongly this time. "She asked for law enforcement."

"No," Danny corrects him. "I heard her tell you she didn't know you were a cop, she just knew that you were in Hawaii."

"And your point is?" Steve's voice once again has that irritated tinge to it.

"My point is she didn't ask for you the 5-0 officer. She just asked for you."

Steve turns his head to look at Danny,

"If you're injured and scared you ask for someone you actually want to see. That's all I'm saying."

Steve finally nods his head.

They drive in silence for a while longer.

Steve breaks the silence. "What do you mean heard us?"

"Dude, I was five feet away on the other side of a curtain. What made you think I couldn't hear you?"

Danny looks sideways at Steve and smiles. Steve shakes his head. "Yeah, okay."

"She is pretty," Danny smirks.

Steve laughs, "She's beautiful."

"Oh beautiful, I see. Yep, you're screwed."

"I am not…" Steve looks quickly at Danny then sighs. "Okay, yeah pretty much."

Steve floors the gas pedal.


	3. Chapter 3

DISCLAIMER: I do not own "Hawaii Five-O" or any of the characters

Author's Note: Thanks for reading. I always love to hear what you think about the story, so please share a review. :)

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They finally reached the Hilton, which was a relief to Steve because it gave him an excuse to get away from Danny, and his endless questions. Of course, if the shoe had been on the other foot, he would have been harassing Danny, but still, it was far better to be the one doing the harassing than to be the one taking it. And besides, he really did want to focus on catching the asshole that had been stupid enough to try and hurt Emily. Catch him, and preferably break him in half. He would worry about how he felt about Emily being here later.

Steve steps out of the elevator on the third floor, and heads down the hallway. He doesn't need a room number because the presence of the HPD officer outside the door makes it abundantly clear where he should be going.

He reaches the room where the officer is standing and stops just outside. The door to the room has a smudged red hand print with streaks running off to the side. The carpet just inside the threshold is stained by a large puddle of blood. The blood trail leads through the room, over to the hotel room phone. There's more blood on the phone handset and another larger puddle on the carpet in front of it. Steve can also see a small trail of blood, probably from shoes, leading away from the door over to the stairway entrance.

For the second time today Steve's stomach revolts and he feels ill. From the looks of it Emily is extremely lucky to be alive.

A low whistle sounds from behind Steve, and he turns his head to look back at Danny. "Please tell me your girl stabbed this creep, and some of that blood is his."

Steve shakes his head at Danny, focusing back on the case. "No, afraid not, before we arrived Em gave HPD a statement. In it, she said the guy stabbed her after she maced him, then he stumbled out and escaped. From the looks of it, he went to the stairs," Steve points at the blood in the hallway. "But she never got her hands on the knife. So this is all her."

"Did the hospital give her a transfusion or something at least?" Danny asks.

"Her doctor told me that she needed a transfusion at the hospital when she arrived. She was unconscious when the paramedics that responded to the 911 call found her."

Chin is standing on the other side of the room and looks up at the sound of Steve's voice. He and Kono carefully pick their way across the room to the exterior hallway.

"Hey, how's your girl doing?" Chin asks Steve by way of greeting.

Steve shoots Danny a look. Danny gives him a 'who me?' innocent shrug in return.

Steve decides he'll just let it go for now. "She's okay. Pretty shaken up, but none of her injuries are life-threatening anymore. The doctor is going to release Em from the hospital. They would prefer she spend another night, but she told them she wants out."

"Did she mention that to you, the doctor wanting her to stay part?" Danny asks.

Steve looks back at Danny shaking his head. He laughs a little under his breath. "She said the opposite actually, but I know how much she hates hospitals and she can be a bit…" Steve pauses for a second, "she can be stubborn."

Danny smiles, "And she dated you? Wow, can't imagine why that didn't work out."

Chin and Kono both stifle a laugh. Chin by raising a hand to hide his expression, but Kono ends up coughing from her efforts not to appear amused.

Steve rolls his eyes, "Okay, yeah, yeah. So what do we have here?"

Chin starts, "Well, HPD finished processing the scene before we got here. "

"Yeah, of course, since she got stabbed last night. They didn't call us till this morning, when she woke up," Steve says.

"So they dusted for prints but…"

Danny finishes for Chin, "let me guess, since it's a hotel, they came up with the phone book."

"Exactly," Chin nods at Danny.

Kono jumps in, "HPD did run everything they got that was clean. Everything came back to a past hotel guest, housekeeping, or Emily herself."

Steve shakes his head, "Ok, so the finger prints are a dead end. What about the hotel cameras?"

"HPD asked the hotel to pull everything they have. They are sending us the files. We just have to get back to headquarters to go through it." Kono answers him.

"Alright, so what else do we know?" Steve asks.

Chin continues, "The electronic log from the door shows that housekeeping entered the room at 9:15pm."

Steve cocks his head to the side, his eyebrows contracting in confusion. Danny sees his expression and jumps in. "That's a little late for housekeeping."

Chin nods, "Exactly, we talked to them and they have no records of sending someone in the room at that time of night, but they are missing a housekeeping key."

"So the attacker took the housekeeping key," Steve concludes.

"That's what we're thinking," Chin responds. "The housekeeping key is used at 9:15pm. Emily's key is used on the room at 9:48."

Kono steps forward, and points to the inside of room doorway. "We think that the attacker waited for her just inside the door. When she came in, he grabbed her. The room has some drawers and things left open. In all likelihood, the person who broke in was looking for something, and when he didn't find it, he decided to wait for Emily to come back."

Steve nods, "Yeah, Emily's statement said that she went to dinner then took a walk down by the water before going back to the hotel. She did, however, have her briefcase on her. She said that she was working during dinner. I think the file they wanted was in her briefcase."

"Did she give you the file?" Chin asks.

"She gave it to HPD, and they gave it to us with her statement," Steve answers.

"We need to see that file and find out what was so important in it," Danny says.

"I took a quick look at it already," Steve tells them. "It's just real estate contracts. Nothing that appears important enough to steal or hide. No clue why they'd be important. We need to look into all the names in the file, and see if anything comes up suspicious."

Kono continues, "So, Emily enters the room and gets grabbed from behind. It's not clear if the attacker was just trying to scare her into give him the file, or if his intention was to really hurt her."

Steve briefly closes his eyes and swallows the flash of anger that has risen through his chest. He opens his eyes quickly, hoping that no one has noticed. Kono is still speaking.

"Either way, Emily pulls a can of mace out of her bag. She sprays the attacker with the mace. From her wounds it appears that he tries first to slash her throat, and then gets her arm. The attacker leaves the room, and escapes down the hall, to the stairs," Kono points at the blood trail leading to the stairs. She pauses briefly and catches Steve's gaze. He gives her a weak smile back and nods for her to continue. "Emily moves further into the room and finds the hotel phone. She calls 911 then passes out."

Steve stays silent, unable to tear his eyes away from the blood stain on the carpet. Danny, Chin, and Kono wait for a minute without speaking.

Eventually Danny clears his throat and brings Steve back to reality. "Steve, you still with us?" his voice is sympathetic which Steve is grateful for.

Steve can't help it, he keeps thinking that she could have died, and he hadn't seen her in years. Alright, focus, Steve tells himself. Got to catch this guy, nothing else matters right now.

Out loud, he answers Danny. "Yeah, I'm still here. Sorry." He looks across the faces of his team members. Their expressions tell him they are a bit concerned, probably about him. He shakes his head again. "Let's get out of here back to the office. We can get more done from there now."

They all nod back at him, and Chin turns back to the officer guarding the door, letting him know they're leaving, and giving him permission to tape off the scene.

Steve realizes that, before they leave, he needs to get Emily some clothes, so she can be released from the hospital. As much as he wants to go to the hospital to see her again, he knows that it won't do his concentration any favors. He directs his gaze to Kono. She looks back at him expectantly.

"I have favor to ask of you," he gives her a small smile.

"What? Why don't I get to pick up the girl from the hospital?" Danny asks with an expression of mock hurt.

Steve looks back at him, "Oh yeah sure, like I'm going to leave you alone with her to grill her. Who knows what she'd tell you."

Danny narrows his eyes, "Wait who don't you trust, me or her?"

Steve smiles at him, "Both, definitely both of you."

"Okay see right there, you're just ensuring that I have to talk this girl alone sometime." Danny waves his index finger at Steve for emphasis.

"Not happening Danny," Steve responds turning back to Kono.

"I need you to bring Emily's suitcase to her at the hospital, and take her back to my house."

"I, uhh…" Kono looks back at Steve surprised, "Yeah, of course boss. No problem." She finally smiles at him.

Steve sighs, relieved, Kono at least he knows, he can trust not to give Emily the third degree.

"I'm going to send an officer over to the house to stand guard. I don't want her over there alone until we know for certain this wasn't an attempt on her life."

"Wait, you think this guy was going to kill her? It looks like he was just trying to steal her files," Danny asks.

Steve looks back at him. "I don't know, but I also don't want to take any chances."

Kono nods understanding. "I got it. Catch you later." She heads back into the room to collect Emily's suitcase.

Steve, Danny and Chin disappear down the hallway toward the elevator.


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-O" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's** **Note:** Thanks to all that have reviewed. You're awesome and I really appreciate your encouragement. Hope to have the next chapter in less than a week, but I have houseguests this weekend so that may slow me down.

To answer fLaCkFaN - Emily and Steve chapter is coming up after this one. :)

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><p>Emily Burns was trying her damnedest to take a nap and get some rest, but hard as she was trying, rest was not happening.<p>

Her mind was spinning at an obscene pace. She was forced to admit, she had not come up with much of a plan before coming to Hawaii. Just get here, try to figure things out, was pretty much the whole of it. But no matter how lacking her plans had been, none of them included almost being killed, then confined to hospital ER purgatory for the last twelve and a half hours.

Admittedly, she had been asleep for a good portion of the ER time, but now that she was awake, she was antsy and wanted out.

She had been more than a little embarrassed to find out that, when asked who to call, she had given the doctor the name of her ex-boyfriend. Nice move Emily. She had been trying to convince herself that this, aside from her being barely conscious after a trauma, was because she had come out here to contact him. This was the only reason his name had popped into her head. At least that was the excuse she was currently giving herself.

Fourteen hours ago, she'd been having dinner, alone, near the beach in Waikiki. Her biggest fear had been convincing Steve to see her again, and dealing with his, potentially negative reaction. Well, she sure as hell had managed to see him again, and she wouldn't classify his reaction as negative per se, at least he'd been somewhat happy to see her. Of course that was probably because he was happy to see her alive. The whole situation was so ridiculous she could almost laugh.

He had been a bit mad about the mace, but as far as Emily was concerned, that fell squarely into the "his own fault" category, since he had bought it for her. Before she had fled San Diego, for a position in the firm of an old law school friend in L.A., she had been involved in the prosecution of several cases from San Diego's ever escalating drug wars. Steve had been, understandably, worried about her safety and had convinced her to buy the mace. And now he had the nerve to give her a hard time about using it.

Emily's arm was throbbing and her neck stung, the combined effect of which was a pounding headache. Dully, she wondered if they could give her some stronger pain killers. She closed her eyes again, but the memory of the previous evening replayed, and her chest tightened.

Strong arms had grabbed her roughly from behind, a foreign hand pressed into her chest, and she had felt the pinch of sharp metal against her throat. Her first instinct had been to freeze, one hand still in her purse. Her brain had shut down, seized by a paralyzing fear. She wanted to commend herself on not handing over the file that the attacker had demanded, but in truth she had been too terrified to think clearly and process anything that had been asked of her. She'd felt her hand close around the mace can, had pulled it out and squeezed down the trigger. Thankfully she had managed to actually spray her attacker and not herself.

There had been the sharp sting of pain in her neck and then her arm as her assailant had released her with a howl. She'd been dimly aware of his stumbling out the door away from her, as she dropped to her knees in the room's entryway. She could see the gash on her arm and blood pouring from it. She had raised her right hand to her neck and could feel wet dripping through her fingers. When she had pulled the hand away, it too was coated red.

As she had reached the phone to dial 911, the room had begun to spin. She'd muttered some form of a plea for help to the operator, before the need to close her eyes had over taken her. A few flashes remained of the ambulance ride, murmured reassurances from the paramedics that she would be fine, the feeling of being cocooned in a blankets, strapped to a gurney.

Ironic wasn't it, now that she had a safe, boring, job in L.A., someone had tried to kill her, ostensibly because of a case. She couldn't, for the life of her, figure out what the hell was going on. She was filing paperwork to buy a new warehouse for a wine importer client. Mark Richardson ran a business, shipping California wine to Hawaii. All she was doing was carrying out the purchase of a new warehouse. It was not the most interesting work, but she had known when she took the job that she'd be stuck with a fair amount of mundane sludge. In truth, Richardson wasn't even her client. Another lawyer in her firm handled all of Richardson's business, but was on leave for a family emergency and Emily had been tasked with handling this paperwork. As she had told Steve, it wouldn't normally entail traveling to Hawaii to handle, but she had wanted an excuse to come out here.

A buzzing sound comes from the table next to her, and she glances at her cell phone, the ring tone set to vibrate. She sighs, thinking that eventually, she is going to have to answer the phone. As far as she knows, no one in L.A. is aware of the events of the last twenty-four hours. Of course she knows that by delaying calling people, she's only making the situation worse for herself. Yes, I almost died last night and no, I wasn't ready to talk to you about it, won't be without hurt feelings she's guessing. Also, if she doesn't call into the office, she's fairly certain they won't be happy with her but, at least in that regard, the "this is somehow your fault," guilt factor should help.

Emily's thoughts are interrupted as the curtain surrounding her is opened, and a tall, pretty Asian woman enters her enclosure.

One thought, she's ashamed to admit, immediately springs to her mind, please don't be on Steve's task force.

The woman extends her hand with a warm smile. "Hi, I'm Kono. I work on the 5-0 task force. Steve sent me over to get you out of here."

Damn it, she's very attractive, of course she works with him. Emily blinks back at Kono, her mouth opening a closing twice, but not speaking. Seriously Emily, that's what you're thinking? Jealousy does not become you, she silently admonishes herself.

With a start Emily regains control of her thoughts and realizes that Kono must think she's being incredibly rude. She finally reaches out and takes Kono's outstretched hand, shaking it and trying to smile back. She hopes the smile doesn't convey as too uncomfortable.

"Umm, hello, I'm Emily." She shakes her head to clear it. "Sorry, I'm still a little out of it I guess," Emily offers as way of apology for staring like a mindless sheep.

Kono continues to smile at her, as she lets go of Emily's hand. "No worries, you don't need to apologize. How are you feeling?" Kono glances down at the bandages on Emily's arm.

Emily takes a quick look at her arm then looks back at Kono considering how to answer. Whoever this woman is, the warmth of her smile genuinely seems to reflect in her eyes, and for that Emily is grateful.

Emily shrugs her shoulders, "I've been better I suppose. I'm a bit sore and I still feel like a space cadet. I'm looking forward to getting out of here though."

Kono nods her head and her eyes twinkle in understanding. "Yeah, Steve mentioned something about an aversion to hospitals?"

Emily's cheeks grow pink. So he was talking about her to his team members. Just wonderful, she wasn't sure how she felt about that.

"Of course that's what he would remember," she rolls her eyes and Kono laughs. "I guess I can't deny it, I'm not the world's best patient. I've never been very good at sitting still."

"Well you are in luck, because I have brought reinforcements." Kono holds up the bag in her right hand, and Emily realizes that it's the small overnight bag she'd left at the hotel.

A broad smile spreads across Emily's face. She looks from the bag back to Kono's face. "Oh wow, now you're definitely my hero. I cannot wait to get out of this hospital gown."

Kono laughs again. "I can totally understand why you'd feel that way." She places the bag on the bed at Emily's feet. "Okay, I'm going to go try to find your doctor so he can release you."

Emily nods back. "Sounds good to me."

After a pause and another smile, Kono exits through the curtain. Emily lays her head back again on the bed and closes her eyes.

* * *

><p>An hour later, Emily is sitting in the passenger seat of Kono's car. She darts an occasional glance at her feet, now clad in pink flip flops, complete with small green rubber palm leaves as decoration, courtesy of the hospital gift shop. The comfortable shoes she had been wearing last night had been destroyed and thrown out, too stained by blood to salvage. She had packed a pair of decent heels in her bag, but doesn't quite feel up to wearing them right now.<p>

Kono catches Emily's glance at her feet and laughs, causing Emily to look up.

"See, now you look like a proper Hawaiian," Kono tells her.

Emily smiles back at her, "Yeah, more like a proper tourist I'd guess. But it is better than falling over I suppose." She turns her head to look out the window as the car pulls out and onto the street. "So we're heading over to Steve's house?" she asks.

"Yeah, it's not too far," Kono answers her. "Don't worry; there will be an officer so you're not alone."

Emily's head jerks in Kono's direction, her eyebrows narrowed in confusion, "An officer?"

"Someone from HPD," Kono tells her in a reassuring tone, "Steve said he would prefer you not be alone till we catch the guy that attacked you."

Her heartbeat accelerates a bit, "Oh no, I think I'll be okay, I don't have the file that they wanted anymore at least," Emily tries to convince her. After last night, she's not thrilled with the idea of spending the whole day with any stranger following her around, even if it is a police officer.

"That's true, but until we know anything for certain, it would be better to cover all the bases," Kono responds, shooting a look her way before turning her eyes back to the road. "Besides, it's not like you have to convince me. Steve is my boss so…" she doesn't finish but Emily catches her meaning.

"Right, I know," she pauses and exhales a breath with a short laugh, "and I don't think I'll be trying to argue with him to talk him out of it. In case you hadn't noticed he can be a bit stubborn."

Kono starts laughing, causing Emily to give her a bemused look. "What?" she asks.

With a few deep breaths Kono gains control of herself to answer Emily. "Sorry couldn't help it. You guys are so perfect for each other."

"How's that exactly?" Emily is still confused.

Kono looks at her quickly again, "Steve actually said almost the exact same thing about you," she pauses before clarifying, "being stubborn I mean." Kono looks back at the road, avoiding Emily's eye contact but still smiling.

"He called me stubborn?" Heat rises to her face, and she's aware that the tone of her voice has raised a few notches. After a moment she mutters, "If that's not the pot calling the kettle black," under her breath.

Kono hears her and is quick to respond with an amused expression, "Hey, I agree with you in that regard. Just don't tell him I said that." After a pause she adds, "It does make him good at his job though."

Emily nods her head, looking out the window again. "Yeah, I know that it does." They drive in silence for a moment. "How is it going by the way? The task force I mean?"

"Umm," Kono hesitates before answering her. "It's never a dull moment that much I can say. But we pick up a lot of important cases. It's nice to feel like you're doing something important to help people you know?"

Emily doesn't say anything right away. With a pang, she remembers how good it felt to be doing a job like that and realizes she misses the feeling. "Yes, I do know what you mean," she finally answers.

Kono looks over at her, "How much have you and Steve had contact since he's been back here?"

Emily shakes her head, "None, we hadn't spoken for a few years until this morning. I wish I had called a long time ago though. I just didn't really think he'd want to hear from me." She pauses and swallows before adding, "I had no idea about his Dad."

She can hear Kono let out a breath, "Yeah, I guess he's had a lot to deal with in the last few years."

"There's been other stuff?" she asks. Her heartbeat speeds up again, concerned.

"Well…" Kono hesitates, "just a few job related things."

"Like?" she doesn't actually expect an answer but is going to ask anyway. She knows that she's not supposed to worry about him. He most definitely does not need, or probably want for that matter, her to worry about him, but she's always has a hard time turning those feelings off.

"Umm, sent to prison, abducted and tortured," Kono is pointedly avoiding eye contact with Emily.

"Seriously?" Emily knows her voice has risen into alarmed range.

"Yeah, it's a really long story." Kono looks at her apologetically.

"I'll bet." Emily is not entirely satisfied with that answer, but she knows better than to press for details.

Kono continues, "The thing is, I've had plenty of difficult situations myself since being on this team, and if there's one thing I've learned, it's that Steve always backs me up. He backs all of us up. He's a good guy to have in your corner." Her eyes flick in Emily's direction.

Emily stares at Kono silently for a moment before giving her a small smile. "Yeah, I remember that too."

After another minute Emily looks back at Kono, "I think I have a favor to ask of you."

Kono looks back at her, intrigued, "Okay?"

"How about you don't take me to Steve's house," Emily smiles at her.

"Well, where did you have in mind?" Kono asks.

Emily smiles at her and bites her lip. "There's not much I can do to help your investigation from Steve's couch."

Kono does a double take, and then shakes her head at Emily. "I don't think that's what Steve had in mind when he asked me to pick you up."

"Hey look at it this way," Emily laughs, "you won't have to worry about sending an officer to babysit me."

Kono gives Emily a quick look that seems to indicate she's considering her request. After another moment of staring with determination at the road in front of them, Kono turns the car around towards 5-0 headquarters.


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's** **Note:** Please leave a review if you can. I love feedback.

* * *

><p>Steve is standing in the middle of 5-0 headquarters with Danny and Chin, looking at the digital display table. They are attempting to make some progress in Emily's stabbing case.<p>

He looks up at the sound of Kono's laughter, coming from the hallway outside their area. Briefly he wonders why she is laughing. Maybe she ran into someone on her way into the building? It's only after he hears a familiar voice following Kono's laughter that his heartbeat speeds up.

"I really should have told you to get me a flower print shirt to go with these flip flops. I think it would have completed the ensemble." He can hear Emily's voice as her laughter joins Kono's.

Steve's brain is attempting to tell him that he should be mad at her, at both of them really. She was supposed to go to his house and rest. But somewhere deep in his stomach the voice from the hospital is back, and it is pretty much just happy to see her again.

Danny and Chin look toward the sound of Emily and Kono's voices as well.

The door to headquarters opens, and Emily walks through and into Steve's line of sight, with Kono following close behind. Aside from a few bandages at her neck and arm, Emily looks like her old self. She is wearing a short sleeved pink blouse with buttons, and khaki pants. Her hair is pulled back in a ponytail, but a few stray blond curls have escaped and are swirled around her face.

Steve is momentarily frozen in place, without the power to do anything but stare. As if on cue, Emily and Kono's conversation stops abruptly. Emily catches his helpless gaze and her forward motion across the room halts. The corner of her mouth lifts up in an amused smile.

His brain is still trying to wrest control of his body back from his emotions. It is shouting dimly, 'mad, Steve, you are supposed to be mad.' Unfortunately for it, his brain is losing the battle to the part of him that has been struck dumb, spellbound like a teenage boy in the presence of his crush.

"Steve, earth to Steve," Danny's voice intones, mercifully quiet, beside him.

Steve's head jerks with a start, and then snaps in Danny's direction. Danny's smile indicates that he is clearly enjoying this turn of events immensely. The expression on Danny's face is enough to allow annoyance to bubble up through Steve. He narrows his eyes at Danny in irritation, before taking a quick glance at Chin and Kono's face. They too give the impression that his reaction to Emily has not gone unnoticed, amusement and surprise playing across their respective features.

Alright Steve, pull it together, he tells himself, say something coherent. You've embarrassed yourself in front of the team enough for one day.

He looks back at Emily and a weak, "Hey," escapes him.

Nice one Steve, way to sound coherent there buddy, he silently tells himself. He briefly closes his eyes and a lets out a short breath.

Emily's smile broadens, causing her eyes to twinkle. "Hey," she responds softly back.

"Aa-hem," Danny's voice startles him. Steve looks back at him, confused. Danny blinks at him innocently, before tilting his head in Emily's direction then upright again, never taking his eyes off Steve.

Oh right, yeah, I should go talk to her, he thinks.

Steve finds his voice again as he starts across the room towards Emily and Kono. Worry blooms quickly in his chest and he's guessing that it has planted itself firmly on his face. "Em, what are you doing here? You are supposed to be at home resting." His voice is now coming out slightly harsher than he had intended.

Emily's head starts shaking no, before the words are even finished coming out of his mouth.

"Steve, please don't be mad." She raises both hands, palms flat toward him in a warding off gesture. "I twisted Kono's arm to bring me here. I feel fine, and I've been trying to rest all day as it is. I need to figure out what the hell happened last night." Her eyes are locked on his, pleading.

His stomach does a flip. Damn it, don't look at me like that, he thinks. I'm having a hard enough time concentrating as it is.

Steve turns his head to look quickly at Kono, who gives him a sheepish smile. He rests his gaze on her for a second, letting her sweat a bit, before turning back to Emily.

"I'm not mad at Kono," he tells Emily. I am supposed to be mad at you though, he thinks. Instead he says, "I am well aware of how determined you can be when you're on a mission." He smiles at her a little.

Her nose wrinkles in apology, "I'm sorry, I just want to help, okay? I…" her voice stammers a bit, "I can't stop thinking about last night. I want to be doing something, I can't just…" her voice catches and trails off. She bites her lip and looks down at her feet.

Steve is silent for a second, staring at Emily. He looks over at Kono who hesitates, before gesturing with her hand, flicking her index finger first pointing at Steve then to Emily. Kono gives him a little smile, both of apology and encouragement, he thinks.

He looks back at Emily and can now see the distress in her body language. He missed it before, distracted by her laughter and the shock of seeing her again.

His face softens, and he looks down at her feet as well, since she is studying them so intently. A short laugh escapes him.

"Nice shoes," he tells her.

Her head pops up and her eyes meet his, bemused. She holds his eyes for a second before finally letting out an exaggerated noisy sigh. "What, these aren't what the locals would be wearing? I'm so disappointed."

He smiles at her and then takes the last few steps toward her. He reaches out, resting his hand on her upper arm, a serious expression settles on his face.

"You get one hour, do you hear me? And then you are taking a rest, even if it's just on the couch in my office." He waves his index finger in the direction of her nose to emphasize his point. He pauses and watches her face flood with relief. "It's probably good you're here to help with the case anyway. We've got more questions for you. But if you start feeling unwell in any way, I want to hear about it, do you understand me?"

"Yes sir," she says in a small, but happy voice.

He realizes that he's suddenly very self-conscious of his hand on her arm, but he doesn't take it away.

"Aa-hem," Danny is making throat clearing noises again, but louder this time. Steve shoots him a quick look and Danny smiles at him.

Steve turns so that he is standing next to Emily, and maintaining his grasp on her arm, he leads her towards the digital display table where Chin and Danny are standing.

"Emily," he starts, looking first at her, and then back at Danny and Chin, "I'd like to introduce you to the rest of the 5-0 team. This is my partner, Detective Danny Williams." He gestures to Danny with his free hand. Emily reaches her hand across the table to shake Danny's.

"Nice to meet you," Danny says as he nods his head at Emily.

Steve turns toward Chin, "And this is Lieutenant Chin Ho Kelly."

Emily turns to Chin and shakes his hand as well.

"Glad to see you're up and around Ms. Burns," Chin gives her a smile.

"Thanks," she responds. "I'm glad to be up too, after yesterday." Emily looks from Chin back to Danny then to Kono for a second, before looking down at the digital display table. "So what have you guys got, anything?" She looks back up at Steve.

"Wow, right down to business. I'm impressed," Danny says watching her.

She looks back up at him and shrugs, while Steve gives a chuckle. He releases her arm, reluctantly, and leans both hands on the table. He looks from Danny to Chin.

"I should probably mention that, before moving to L.A. to work on real estate contracts..." Steve's places emphasis on the words 'real estate contracts' looking sideways at Emily.

"Hey, that's not all I do," Emily cuts him off with mock indignation. "That's just some of what I do," she concedes with a rueful head shake.

Steve looks at her with a smirk, "Yeah, okay, whatever you want to tell yourself." He continues, "Before taking her current, extremely exciting job, Emily worked in the San Diego District Attorney's office, so she has some experience with investigations."

"Yes I do, but it usually isn't a case involving me," she tells them, exhaling a breath. She turns her gaze down to regard the displays in front of them.

Steve watches as she raises her right hand to her face, probably not aware that she's doing it, he thinks. She has balled her hand into a loose fist, and she runs her thumb against her mouth in a nervous gesture. Her eyes move to the photos piled in one corner of the table. She has fixed on the crime scene photos, reaching out with her left hand to pick one up. The picture is of the entrance to her hotel room with the dark red spot of blood taking prominence.

Gently, Steve reaches over and takes the photo out of her hand, setting it back on the table, face down. Her eyes meet his again, less confident now. He begins to think she's not here so much to help with the investigation, but because she's having trouble handling everything that has happened.

He gives her a brief rundown of what they've learned from the hotel room, with Danny and Chin filling in some of the pieces of information. After the summary is complete, Chin reaches down and taps his fingers on the table, pulling up the hotel security camera footage.

"So this is what the hotel sent over. The camera is placed at the end of the hallway on your floor, so we can't really see what's happening in your room, but we do see the attacker here." As Chin points to the screen, the door to the stairway opens and a man enters the hallway, his back to the camera. He appears to be wearing dark blue jeans and a black jacket. He is also wearing a dark baseball cap.

The man walks down the hallway, pulls out a room key and slips into Emily's hotel room. Chin taps his fingers on the table and fast forwards the footage. When Chin starts it again, Steve watches the video as the elevator opens and Emily steps out, walking down the hall to her room. She reaches the door and places her key in the slot.

Steve has already seen the footage once, but his reaction is the same as the first time. His stomach clenches and he grits his teeth together. On the screen, Emily enters the room, out of range of the camera.

He looks away from the video, and over to the Emily standing next to him, her lips pressed together, her face ashen. She has started to shake, just a bit, barely noticeable. In that moment, he doesn't care what his team members will think, he takes a step sideways, closer to her so that his left shoulder is almost touching her right. He reaches his left arm out, around her back, and softly rests his hand on her lower back, supporting her from behind. Her shaking subsides as she turns her face to look at him with gratitude, before looking back at the screen.

After a minute, they see the attacker stumble out, clearly distressed, his gloved hands reach up to scrub his eyes. He blindly gropes down the hall, bumping into the wall a few times. He is now facing the camera, but his hands continue to cover his face as he gets closer to the camera and the door to the stairs. He reaches the door and backs into it. As his back hits the door, he drops his hands to his sides, reaching with his left hand for the door handle. Finally, the camera gets it's one and only shot of the attacker's face.

Chin taps the table to freeze the shot. He starts talking, "There are also stairway cameras, but due to the angle and his hat, this is the only good look we have at his face. We're running this picture through the database to see if anything comes up but we don't have any hits yet."

Steve looks at Emily's face again. Her eyes are fixed on the video screen, unable to tear herself away.

This is stupid, he thinks. I should make her leave, watching this is clearly not good for her. He looks from her stricken face back down to the face on the screen. Anger flashes through him, and he swallows thickly to tamp his feelings down.

He taps two fingers of the hand resting on Emily's back to get her attention. "Em?" he asks looking over at her.

She gives her head a small shake, lets out a deep breath and looks back at him. "Yeah, sorry, first time I'm getting a look at the guy too." She pauses a moment. Danny, Chin and Kono are quiet, waiting for her to continue. She looks around the table, "so what else is there?" she asks.

Kono smiles at her and Danny jumps in, moving on the discuss Emily's client Mark Richardson.

After thirty minutes of going through the information on Richardson, they're reaching a dead end. Emily has told them everything she knows but the information she can provide is limited. She also tells them, she spoke to him briefly yesterday morning on her cell. She had explained that she was in Hawaii and was going to check out the warehouse for him.

Danny, Chin and Kono are all reading through data from various sources. Steve has moved and is standing across the table from Emily. He looks up at her and realizes that she is standing, both hands resting on the table, her eyes closed. As he watches she lifts her left hand to rub her temples, index finger on one side of her face, thumb on the other.

Steve walks back around the table so that he is standing almost behind her. Her leans his head close to hers, his mouth next to her ear. "Still want to tell me you feel fine?" he asks quietly.

Her eyes open slowly and she turns her head to look at him over her shoulder. She doesn't say anything but bites her lower lip a bit, eyes on his face. He thinks she doesn't want to admit defeat so quickly.

"Tired or does something hurt?" he tries.

Her eyes move off of his face to a spot behind him before answering. "Both, actually," her eyes shifting back to his face.

He nods, "what hurts?"

She lets out a sigh and a short laugh, "my neck, my arm, my head. Is that enough?"

"Um, Yes, I'd said that's more than enough," Steve smiles at her. He takes her right hand lightly in his left and pulls it a little. "Come on, there's a couch in my office." He walks backward a few steps, releasing her hand, but watching her to see if she plans on following him or not. She hasn't moved, her eyes are on his face.

For a moment he's afraid she's going to be stubborn and refuse to follow, but finally she turns and heads in his direction. He shoots a look back at the table as she passes him on the way to his office. Instantly he regrets this decision as Danny's head pops up to smirk at him. Steve narrows his eyes and shakes his head at Danny.

Emily has stopped, unsure which office is his. She looks up at him and he points to his door, walking to it and holding it open. She walks through the door and he follows her, letting the door shut behind him.

* * *

><p>Once the door is closed behind him, Emily does a three-hundred and sixty degree turn, taking in the surroundings, before stopping and looking back at him. "Very impressive, how did you get this gig again?"<p>

He laughs, "The Governor asked me actually."

"Really?" she cocks her head to the side, eyebrows raised.

"Yeah, it's a long story though, another day," he replies.

It hits him that he's suddenly self-conscious to be alone with her. He shuffles his feet and tries to find somewhere else to look, anywhere but at her. He's ultimately unsuccessful and his eyes land back on her face.

Emily smiles at him and lets out a small laugh, "Yeah, I feel weird too."

He hesitates, and then nods at her, giving a little laugh himself. He turns and looks out at Danny, Kono, and Chin. All three heads jerk down quickly, suspiciously focused on their work.

Steve turns back to Emily and gestures over his shoulder with his thumb, "Glass walls."

She squints her eyes a bit, tilting her head to this side, as if considering a problem. She straightens her head again, "Um, yeah, well I guess you could close the blinds but I think that would somehow make things worse." She gives him a smirk.

This time he can't help but laugh out loud, and the tension is broken. "Oh trust me, you have no idea," he says raising his hand.

Suddenly, he realizes she is still standing in the middle of the room. The voice inside him speaks up, the couch Steve, make her lie down, remember?

He approaches her, pointing to the couch, "You should lie down and take a break okay?"

Her eyes blink back at him, focused on his face. After a pause she nods her agreement.

He takes her upper arm and steers her in the direction of the couch. When they reach it, she turns and sinks down. She sighs and closes her eyes. As she sits, his hand slides from her upper arm toward her bandage. It takes a moment before she notices that he is still standing in front of her, and hasn't let go.

Steve's eyes are fixed on the bandage. He knows that he should let go, but he lets his thumb runs back and forth gently along her wrist.

Jesus, you almost lost her, the thought hits him with accompanying chest pain. How could you let that happen?

He realizes that she is staring at his hand, as it is stroking her arm. She looks up into his eyes again, her face flushes red, her eyes widen embarrassed.

With difficulty he eventually drops her arm and pulls his eyes away, feeling heat rise to his face as well.

"Em, I…" he starts but doesn't finish.

"Steve, I'm so sorry," she jumps in, "I feel like such an idiot putting you through all this." She raises her hand to her face, her thumb tapping on her lips again.

He looks at her confused. "How are you an idiot? You didn't ask for this to happen. Unless there is something you're not telling me?" An uncomfortable sensation settles into his stomach.

Seeing the unease on his face she quickly responds, "What? No, I mean, I know I didn't ask to get attacked, but just coming out here to see you…" she raises her good hand in a helpless gesture before letting it fall to her lap.

Did she just say, to see him? Now he really doesn't understand.

He shakes his head, closing his eyes for a second. "Em, hold on, I thought you were just here on business?"

"Well…, I am, sort of I am," she pauses, appearing to struggle for words. "Steve, the thing is I could have handled all this from L.A."

"If you could handle this from L.A., then why are you out here?" his voice is tight.

"Look I," she inhales a deep breath before continuing, "I found out recently that you were back here in Hawaii. When this work thing came up, I volunteered to take it, so I would have an excuse to come see you."

He stares at her wordlessly for a moment, his eyebrows narrowed, processing what she's saying. He swallows before he bends his knees to crouch down in front of her, balancing on the balls of his feet.

Finally he smiles at her, "Em, okay, that's fine. I get that part." He is trying to make his voice sound reassuring. "But why? Why now?" Her eyes flash and get caught in his. He takes a breath and reaches out to enfold both of her hands in his own. "Emmy, what's wrong?" he is almost pleading with her, "Do you need me for some reason?"

Unfortunately for him, Emily is not going to get a chance to answer his question right now, as Danny's voice interrupts them from the next room.

"Hey Steve, buddy. I need you to come take a look at this."

Steve squeezes his eyes shut, tilting his head down and taking a breath. He does not, however, release Emily's hands.

When he opens his eyes again, he meets her gaze. "I guess I should go see what he wants."

She shakes her head, "Yes, of course. I want you to go see what he's found too." Her face adopts an apologetic expression. "I shouldn't have started this now anyway. I promise we'll talk later, okay?"

"I'm going to hold you to that you know," he tells her.

She laughs, "Yes, I figured."

He reluctantly lets go of her hands, standing up. He looks down at her, and on impulse he leans over and kisses the top of her head. His stomach does another flip, a pleasant sensation this time, and he pauses just long enough to inhale the scent of her hair.

When he pulls back to standing, she's watching him with wide eyes, a shocked smile playing on her lips.

"Rest," he orders, pointing his index finger in her direction, "lie down and rest."

She obliges by lifting her legs up onto the seat, and shifting to lie down, her arm curled under her head.

Steve leaves the office to find out what Danny wants.

* * *

><p>As Steve crosses the main room, he is greeted by a huge smile plastered across Danny's face.<p>

"How's your girl?" Danny asks, giving the impression of barely contained glee.

Steve looks back at Danny without answering for a second. "Danny, whatever you have, it had better be good. That's all I'm going to say."

"Oh really, so you're making progress then?" Danny continues to needle him.

Steve's mouth tightens into a line before speaking, "Alright, what have you got?"

"Uh-huh," Danny nods, "I've got this guy Richardson's bank accounts here. Come take a look."

Steve crosses to look at the screen in front of Danny.

Chin and Kono have also looked up and are listening. Danny continues, "This is guy is worth a lot of money. Now tell me, does the wine importation business, just from California to Hawaii really pay this well?"

Steve looks back at Danny. "You don't think it does," he answers as a statement not a question.

Danny shakes his head, "no, I don't."

"So what do you think?" Chin asks Danny.

"What's he really importing?" Danny says. "Because, he sure as hell, is well paid, for whatever he's shipping."

Steve nods his head, "good point."

Kono's head jerks down to the table, as the section in front of her lights up. Her eyes widen, and Steve watches her, tension flaring up through his body.

"What is it?" he asks her.

"We finally got a hit on the facial recognition software." Kono taps the table, to expand the information in front of her. "John Lincoln, been arrested a few times for breaking and entering, and a weapons charge. He's got a condo downtown."

The tension in Steve's body had exploded into full-fledged anger. He's staring at the face on the table. I'm coming to get you asshole, he thinks. He looks up to find Chin, Kono and Danny watching him.

"Alright, let's go get him." Steve tells them.

His three team members leave the table in a hurry to collect their gear. Steve heads back to his office, "I'm going to tell Emily where we're going," he says to them over his shoulder.

Steve enters his office and finds Emily sound asleep on the couch. Her face is peaceful, and he's glad she's getting some rest. He pauses looking at her for a second, before walking over to his desk and opening a drawer to pull out a notepad and pen. He writes her a note, explaining that they had to leave, but someone would be back for her soon. He leaves the note on the front of his desk where she'll hopefully see it.

He straps on his vest and his gun, before turning to leave the office. His hand is on the door as he hears a phone ringing. Emily stirs and mumbles in her sleep at the sound of the phone.

Damn it, don't wake up, he thinks. He hurries toward the sound, and pulls her cell phone out of her pocket. He thinks he should let it go to voicemail, but Emily stirs and mumbles again. He answers her phone.

"Hello, this is Emily Burn's phone," Steve says quietly.

"Hello?" a confused male voice asks. "Is, uh, Emily there?"

Steve is really wishing he hadn't answered her phone right about now. "Actually, she's asleep. I'm a friend of hers." He pauses, unsure how to continue. "Can I help you?"

The voice sounds worried. "Is everything okay? I've been trying to call her since last night, but I wasn't getting an answer."

Steve hesitates, a sinking feeling overtaking him. "Yeah, I don't know about that. Maybe she had it turned off. She's, um, fine now." That's sort of the truth at least. "Can I tell her who this is? I'll make sure she calls you, when she wakes up."

Steve can hear the voice on the phone let out an exasperated sigh. "Yes, could you tell her that her boyfriend Jason called?"

Steve closes his eyes and grits his teeth together. Her Boyfriend, that's wonderful, just wonderful.

The voice on the phone speaks again, "Hello, are you still there?"

Steve pulls himself together to respond, "Yes, I'm here. I'll tell her to call you." He turns his gaze to Emily's sleeping form on his couch. His chest constricts in pain.

"Okay, thank you." Jason says.

"You're welcome." Steve answers him quietly

Jason hangs up the phone.

Steve walks over and puts the phone on the couch next to her. With a shake of his head, he turns and leaves the office.


	6. Chapter 6

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's** **Note:** Please leave a review if you can. :)

* * *

><p>Once again Danny is in the passenger seat of the Camaro, and Steve is in the driver's seat. Just as earlier in the day, he is suffering the effects of Steve's erratic driving.<p>

"Steve?" Danny tries.

No answer, Steve is busy glaring at the road, swerving around other cars, and clenching his jaw.

"Okay, come on, you were fine twenty minutes ago. What happened?" Danny asks, exasperation filling his voice.

Steve looks sideways at Danny, then back at the road.

"Nothing happened," Steve eventually answers him.

Like I believe that, Danny thinks and lets out a snort. "Uh-huh."

They drive in silence a minute longer.

Danny has to admit, since he's known Steve, he's never seen him look at anyone quite the way he does at Emily. With a stab Danny remembers how he felt when Grace and Rachel's life were in danger, and how the fear and panic sent him out of his head. He looks back at Steve again.

"Steve, look, we've got this guy okay? We know who he is, and probably where he is. It's only a matter of time before we have him in custody."

Steve still doesn't say anything, keeping his eyes forward on the road.

"Alright," Danny continues, "Can you at least promise not to hurt the guy too badly? Can you do that for me please?" He watches for Steve's reaction.

Steve finally looks sideways at Danny, the corner of his mouth curled up in what Danny can only describe as a wicked smile.

"How about if I promise not to do any permanent damage?" Steve's smile widens.

Danny continues to stare at Steve, before nodding a few times, then turning to look back out the window. Somehow Steve is only succeeding at making him feel worse, not better.

"Why do I see another lecture on proper police procedure in your future?" Danny tells him.

* * *

><p>The Camaro comes to screeching halt along the side of a small, run down condo building. Kono's car, with Chin in the passenger seat, pulls up behind them.<p>

As they are exiting the cars Danny looks up at the building. "So just guessing based on this guy's living arrangements, he's not a high end criminal," Danny remarks. Chin catches his eye and nods back in agreement.

"Doesn't look like it, but looks can be deceiving," Chin reminds him.

They head for the building's main entrance, Steve in the lead, with Kono following close behind.

"Where are we going?" Steve looks over his shoulder to ask Kono.

"Second floor, number ten," she answers him.

Once Steve is far enough ahead to be out of earshot, Chin comes up next to Danny.

"Is he okay?" Chin asks tilting his head in Steve's direction.

Danny lets out a small laugh and shakes his head. He gives Chin a look "I'm going to go with no, right now," he tells him.

Chin nods his head, "Yeah, I thought I picked up on that."

"Just keep an eye on him, okay? God only knows what he's going to do to this guy," Danny warns Chin.

Chin and Danny catch up to Steve and Kono at the entrance.

"Chin, Kono, I want you to head around back, cover any other building exits. Danny and I are going upstairs to get this guy," Steve tells them.

Chin nods in agreement.

"Got it boss," Kono tells him. They both turn to move around to the back of the building.

Danny and Steve climb the stairs and take up positions outside of unit number ten. They stand with their backs against the wall, on either side of the door.

Steve looks over at Danny and gives him a nod, Danny nods back.

Steve reaches out sideways with his arm and gives a sharp rap on the door. "John Lincoln, this is 5-0, open up."

After a brief silence, a loud crash can be heard from inside the condo.

"You hear that?" Danny asks looking at Steve.

"Oh yeah, I did," Steve answers him, before turning and kicking the door open.

Steve enters through the door into the condo unit, gun drawn, followed by Danny.

They can hear a sound from the back room, and hurry in that direction.

When Danny enters the room, he can see John Lincoln sliding shut a glass door that leads to a balcony. Lincoln freezes when he sees Steve's gun pointed at him, but his hesitation is only momentary. Steve has almost reached the glass door. Lincoln turns to the balcony railing, pulls himself up onto it, and after a quick backward glance, he jumps off of the railing.

"Shit!" Danny yells.

Steve rushes toward the door, yanks it open and runs through it. He reaches the railing, grabs it with both hands and vaults his legs over, dropping out of Danny's view.

You have got to be kidding me, Danny thinks. "Damn it," he says under his breath.

Danny runs up to the balcony railing and looks down to a concrete patio that runs behind the entire length of the building. John Lincoln is lying on his side, his right leg pulled up towards his chest. He is moaning in pain. Steve is standing next to Lincoln, and from the looks of it, he is uninjured.

"What, so you're Superman now? You can fly, is that it?" Danny yells down to him.

"I can, but it looks like he can't," Steve gives a quick glance down at the suspect before smirking back up at Danny.

"Glad to see you're in a better mood," Danny groans.

"Can you get down here, please?" Steve asks him.

"Uh yeah, I'm going to take the stairs," Danny tells him.

"Yeah okay, wimp," Steve responds.

Danny turns back and leaves the balcony.

* * *

><p>Danny meets Steve, Kono and Chin outside of the building's front entrance. Steve is dragging John Lincoln, hands cuffed behind his back, and Lincoln is limping, avoiding any weight on his right leg. They come to a stop, and Steve lets go of Lincoln's arm. The suspect decides to take the opportunity to make a run for it, but with his injury, he doesn't get far, stumbling and dropping to his left knee. He ends up crashing to the pavement, and lands with a yelp of pain, his cheek against the ground.<p>

"Where do you think you're going?" Steve asks him.

Lincoln writhes on the ground in protest. Steve walks over to him and plants his boot on the suspect's head.

"Hey!" the suspect yells.

"You stay," Steve tells him.

Danny gives Steve a pointed look. "No permanent damage, remember?"

"Bruises aren't permanent," Steve growls without taking his eyes or his boot, for that matter, off of the suspect.

Danny shakes his head in irritation.

In the background, a police siren is approaching.

Danny squats down next to the Lincoln. "Just wanted to give you a piece of friendly advice," Danny smiles at him. "Next time you decide to go attack someone, really you should do your homework. Because see, if I were say you, which thank God I am not, I would think twice before attacking a woman who has a Navy SEAL that works in law enforcement, protecting her."

Danny points up at Steve who lifts his boot. The suspect cranes his head over his shoulder to look up at Steve, who gives him a menacing smile and a small wave.

"Just saying," Danny finishes.

An HPD cruiser enters the parking lot. "Looks like your ride is here," Steve tells him.

Steve hoists the suspect up and starts pushing him toward the cruiser.

"I'm going to head upstairs and start processing," Kono tells Chin and Danny.

Chin gives her a nod, and she heads toward the front entrance.

"Glad that keeping an eye on him worked out so well," Chin remarks to Danny.

Danny just shakes his head.

* * *

><p>Danny gets back into the Camaro for the drive to headquarters. Kono and Chin are processing the condo, while Steve and Danny are leaving to interrogate the suspect. Steve is driving, but more calmly this time. Without warning Steve starts talking.<p>

"She has a boyfriend," he says flatly.

"Excuse me?" Danny asks. He wants to make sure he's heard Steve correctly.

"Emily," Steve pauses before continuing, "She has a boyfriend."

"Ohhhh…" Danny nods his head, finally understanding.

Steve's voice cracks with irritation. "Oh what, what does that mean?"

Danny looks over at Steve to explain. "It means now, I understand why you were so aggravated earlier. Normally going after a suspect makes you almost happy, but not today. So that's what she told you in your office?"

Steve shakes his head, "No, actually she didn't tell me. She fell asleep. I answered the phone because I didn't want it to wake her up."

Danny cocks his head to the side considering, "And he was on the other end of the phone?"

"Yep," Steve replies, gritting his teeth together.

Danny bursts out laughing. Steve glares in his direction.

"It's not funny Danny," Steve bites out.

Danny is struggling to get a hold on himself. Finally he manages to respond, "Yeah sorry, of course not." He pauses before he continues, "You really should have known better than to answer her phone though. You were kind of asking for that to happen."

"No kidding," Steve says.

"So how was this guy taking the whole stabbing thing? He wasn't on the next plane out here?" Danny is confused.

Steve looks sideways at Danny. "She hasn't told him yet."

Danny turns in his seat toward Steve, his eyes wide. "She hasn't told him yet? You've got to be joking. How could she spend a night in the hospital after being stabbed and not call her boyfriend to tell him?"

Steve shakes his head, "No, look, I know Em, if she didn't call him it's because she didn't want to scare him. I'm sure it doesn't mean anything."

"Yeah, but she didn't mind scaring you," Danny reminds him.

Steve nods his head a bit as he responds to Danny. "Yes but, I do live here, close to where she was in the hospital, as opposed to her boyfriend in L.A. Plus," Steve pauses, "I kind of owe her in that department. I mean, while we were together, I was either off in a war zone or chasing Victor Hess around the world. I know she spent lots of time worrying about me," Steve stops talking and Danny can see him clench his jaw then swallow. "I couldn't tell her very much about what I was doing to make her feel better, although, to be honest, if I could have told her what I was doing, that wouldn't have helped either, really. In the end, if I have to worry about her a bit, I guess I deserve it."

Danny shakes his head in disagreement, "You don't deserve it. You were doing your job. It's not like tit for tat. Besides, didn't you say she worked drug cases in San Diego? You must have also done some time in the worrying department."

"No, that's true too," Steve agrees. "And the worst part was it's not like I was even in town to keep her safe half the time. That's why when she got that job offer in L.A. …" Steve's voice trails off.

"You let her take it," Danny finishes for him.

Steve lets out a sigh and wobbles his head from side to side a bit before finally nodding in agreement.

"I just wanted her to be safe, man." Steve tells him, his voice quiet.

Danny waits a few seconds before saying anything. "Um, Steve, I've got news for you. That's not working out so well."

"I'm noticing," Steve remarks dryly.

"So does she know?" Danny asks him.

Steve looks at Danny, confused, "Know what?"

"Does she know that when she dumped you," Steve narrows his eyes at Danny, "You didn't try to change her mind because you thought she'd be better off?"

"Danny, hell I don't know… I mean I didn't… there wasn't exactly…" Steve is stumbling for words and stops, watching the road ahead of him, "She probably doesn't know that, no."

Steve continues, "But look, when we broke up, she was very clear that she thought she'd be better off in L.A., isn't that enough?"

Danny shakes his head, "Steven no, that is not enough. There is a very big difference between her thinking that you let her go, without protest, because you wanted her to be safe, and her thinking that you let her go because, she just wasn't that important to you."

Steve voice rises, sounding more than a bit angry to Danny. "Come on, she should know that is not the case. She knows she's important to me and I want her around."

"Wait, are we speaking in the past or present tense now?" Danny asks.

"What?" Steve glares at him in confusion.

"You said, 'she knows she's important to you,' like it's a current thing. Not a when we broke up thing," Danny points out.

"Danny, you're giving me a headache."

Danny chuckles, "Really? Because I would have thought the jump off the second story balcony would have done that."

Steve shakes his head. "Look, I don't know what she was thinking then, and I don't know what she's thinking now."

"You just know that you want her around." Danny says.

Steve doesn't answer him but continues to watch the road.

Steve finally looks over at Danny, "Let's just focus on interrogating this guy for now, okay?"

"Whatever you say buddy," Danny tells him.

* * *

><p>Danny is inside the interrogation room, keeping an eye on John Lincoln.<p>

Lincoln has been cuffed to a chair in the center of the room. With its dim lights, and quite frankly, unpleasant smell, the interrogation room is one of Danny's least favorite places, and he's looking forward to getting out of it. Of course this is something that won't happen if Steve doesn't get back in here.

What the hell is taking him so long, Danny wonders? Although he's fairly certain the delay probably has to do with a certain blond, parked on Steve's office couch.

Danny takes a quick look at Lincoln, who has mostly been studying the floor, and occasionally grimacing in pain. After they are finished with him, Lincoln's knee will need to be looked at by a doctor and his injury treated. Danny figures Lincoln will keep for a little while longer and steps outside the interrogation room. He leans his back against the hallway wall and pulls his phone out of his pocket. He checks the time.

Good, late enough in the day, he thinks.

He pulls up his address book and hits Rachel's number.

"Hello, Danny?" she answers the phone, her voice full of concern. "What's wrong?"

"Wrong, what? Oh, no, nothing is wrong. I was just calling to, uh…."

Yes Danny, why were you calling again? Maybe this was a bad idea. Danny decides to move to plan B.

"Is Grace there? I just wanted to see how her day went." Danny asks.

"Oh," Rachel pauses. Danny closes his eyes, lifting his free hand to run it over his face. "Yes of course," she tells him, "Hold on."

Danny can hear the phone being shuffled around before Grace's voice comes on the line.

"Hi Danno!" her voice is bright, and a smile spreads across his face. "What's up?"

"Hey monkey, nothing's up. I just wanted to see how your day was going."

"It's good. Mom took me to the beach after school. Can I take surfing lessons? Can you tell Mom I want to take surfing lessons?" her voice comes out in a rush.

Danny laughs, "Surfing? What happened to tennis?" he asks.

"Yeah I know," she tells him, her voice serious, "I still like that, but I want to learn how to surf too."

"Okay, well I'll take that up with your Mom at some point alright?" he tells her. Danny can hear Rachel's voice in the background.

"Danno, I gotta go. Mom says we're going out to meet Stan for dinner."

Sounds like fun, Danny thinks annoyed. Instead he tries to force the smile back on to his face. "Yeah, of course monkey, go on. I'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

"Okay, sounds good. Love you Danno, bye," she tells him.

"Love you too," Danny answers her. Grace hangs up the phone.

Danny continues to stand, staring at his phone a moment longer, before Steve's voice interrupts his thoughts.

"Danny?" Steve asks.

"Huh?" Danny's head shoots up to look back at Steve. "Oh yeah, just checking in with Grace."

Steve nods at him. "Okay."

"She wants to learn to surf," Danny sighs.

Steve laughs back at him. "Well, that was bound to happen eventually you know."

"Uh-huh," Danny says shaking his head.

"You should ask Kono to take her out," Steve suggests.

Danny nods his head considering, then changes the subject. "So where were you?"

It is Steve's turn to shake his head. "I convinced Emily to go back to my house with an officer. There's nothing else for her to do at headquarters. It took a few minutes to talk her into it," Steve tells him.

"You ask her about the boyfriend?" Danny gives Steve a look.

"Um, yeah, gonna save that conversation for later," Steve tells him. He looks over at the door to the interrogation room. "You ready to do this?"

"Absolutely, after you," Danny holds out his hand toward the door.

Steve opens the door and they enter the interrogation room.

As Steve enters the room with Danny following behind, Lincoln's head pops up. His eyes are wary. Danny is guessing that Lincoln remembers Danny's warning about Steve and his relationship to Emily and is nervous about it. His eyes hit briefly on Danny but mostly stay fixed on Steve, following him around the room.

"So John," Steve begins speaking, his voice low and dangerous, "Why did you attack Emily Burns?"

"I… I have no idea what you're talking about," Lincoln stammers.

"Really," Danny jumps in. "That's interesting, because we have video of you leaving her hotel room and tracking bloody footprints down the hall." Danny pauses a moment to allow this information to sink in. "How are your eyes, by the way, all better now?" Danny asks with a nasty grin.

"They're fine," Lincoln spits out, before his eye widen, realizing he's acknowledged his involvement.

Lincoln's eyes dart back to Steve, who has leaned against the far wall, arms crossed over his chest. Steve's eyes do not leave Lincoln's face. Danny can see one of Steve's cheek muscles twitch with tension.

After waiting and staring at Lincoln in silence a bit longer, Steve slowly starts to cross the room toward Lincoln, his hands at his sides.

"So who sent you John? What did you want from her?" Steve's voice is still particularly quiet.

Lincoln starts to shake as Steve approaches.

"I don't know…" Lincoln is avoiding Steve's eye contact as he gets closer. "I can't…" his voice is weak and he doesn't finish the statement.

Steve is standing directly in front of Lincoln now. Lincoln is shaking hard enough that Danny can hear his handcuffs clank against the metal chair.

"I think you can, John." The expression on Steve's face is making Danny distinctly nervous.

Steve leans over Lincoln and places a hand on Lincoln's injured right knee. Danny can see Steve's hand begin to tighten.

Lincoln starts to shriek.

"Who sent you, and why?" Steve asks again, louder this time.

"Stop, please stop." Lincoln is yelling.

"I think you'd better answer the man's questions John," Danny informs him calmly.

"I can't, I can't please," Lincoln moans. "I was just supposed to scare her, that's all. Please let go."

"Who wants her scared?" Danny asks.

Steve squeezes Lincoln's knee again, and Lincoln yells again, his volume increasing.

"My Uncle," he finally shouts, "my Uncle, William Lincoln. He told me where to find her and to get her files. Just scare her off, he said. Please, please let go," Lincoln whimpers.

A grimace of disgust crosses Steve's face, but he lets go of Lincoln, standing up and walking away.

Lincoln's head drops to his chest and his eyes close.

Steve catches Danny's eye and nods toward the door. Danny nods back. They both head toward the exit.

"Oh and John," Lincoln's head pops up to regard Steve, naked fear planted on his features. Steve's voice is almost normal now. "We're not done with you yet," Steve tells him, a glint in his eye.

Danny and Steve leave the interrogation room.

"Steve?" Danny's voice comes out a warning, just as the door has shut behind them.

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Steve waves him off, pulling out his phone. He looks sideways at Danny, "I'll try to behave, okay?"

"Where have I heard that before?" Danny mutters.

Steve just smiles at him. He raises his phone to talk into it.

"Kono, I need you to look up a William Lincoln," Steve says into the phone.

Danny watches as Steve listens to Kono's answer.

After a moment he speaks again, "Really? Okay, we'll see you when you get back."

Steve hangs up his phone and looks back at Danny.

"What did she say?" Danny asks him.

"She said that she's already looked up William Lincoln because he's the co-owner of that condo, but he is also an employee of…"

"Wait, let me guess," Danny jumps in, "Richardson Wine Importing?"

"You got it," Steve tells him with a nod.

Danny nods back and looks at the hallway floor for a moment. "So what now?" Danny asks.

"Now I have to get on the phone and figure out how to have William Lincoln picked up for questioning in L.A."

They both turn and head back toward their offices.

As they're walking Danny clears his throat and Steve gives him a look.

"Yes, Danny?" Steve asks.

"Can you please call the paramedics to look at that idiot's knee now? Please?" Danny gives Steve a pleading look.

Steve just gives him a small grin in return.


	7. Chapter 7

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's** **Note:** Please leave a review if you can. :)

* * *

><p>Steve pulls into his driveway and shuts off the engine of his truck. He remains seated inside looking back at the house.<p>

Why the hell do I feel nervous, he thinks? He leans his head back against the head rest, not moving to get out.

Offering to have Emily stay at his place had seemed like a good idea this morning. Hell, part of him had been looking forward to spending a little time with her, try to catch up. Now he was less enthusiastic about the prospect. The subject of Jason, for one thing, was bound to come up.

For another thing, there were the issues that Danny had been harassing him about earlier. Issues like, what did he want, really? Was the thought of her just getting back on a plane and going home to L.A., okay with him? Leaving things as what, a friend that you call when you're in town? Admit it Steve, just thinking about that scenario makes you ill.

He thought of the last time he had seen her before today. The last time he'd walked away from her, he had every intention of staying away, so that she could, hopefully, move on with her life.

In the six months before their break up, he'd been gone a great deal, mostly out of the country. But he knew that his absence wasn't really the reason they'd broken up. When he was home, he'd been distant and moody. It was one of those times, when you knew you were behaving stupidly, but couldn't seem to make yourself stop.

In his defense, yes he'd been difficult and uncommunicative, but she hadn't been honest with him either. He had found out that she'd been receiving death threats. The threats were a consequence of prosecuting members of a Mexican cartel running drugs over the border. A colleague of Emily's had called Steve and warned him about it, when this colleague had realized that Emily had no intentions of telling Steve herself. It wasn't like there was much he could do to protect her, and knowing had only caused him to worry about her even more than he already did, but he still wished she had told him.

She'd been crying, her breath coming out in halting gasps, when she had told him that she didn't think she could go on with their relationship as it was. She thought maybe they needed to break up. When she had followed by telling him about the possible job in L.A., it had made sense to tell her to take it.

It had made sense hadn't it?

Maybe he'd been hoping that it was an empty threat. She would change her mind and say, "no, of course I wouldn't do that." But then again, maybe she'd been hoping that he would tell her that he wanted her to stay. Unfortunately they were both stubborn. She'd been too stubborn to back down. He'd been too stubborn to ask her not to leave. He didn't want to tell her how much she meant to him.

Only now, years later, could he see in his stubbornness and pride he'd only hurt himself.

Well, okay, he could _now_ see this fact rationally, yes. But overcoming his mistakes, and figuring out what action to take to reverse the damage, that was another story. This story had thus led him to his current state of affairs, sitting in his truck in the driveway, afraid to go into his house.

He had told her to take the job, because he thought it was best for her. Maybe she'd be better off there, without him. But once again, the persistent question haunted him, what did he want? And why was what he wanted, always in opposition to what he was supposed to do, the right thing to do?

He had walked out the door, and hadn't seen her again. He wasn't proud of this fact, but it just would have been too hard. If he'd gone back to see her, he wouldn't have had the strength to let her go. It had been so damn painful the first time.

Danny wasn't right was he? Did she think he had let her go, because she wasn't important to him?

He had to acknowledge that it was a distinct possibility that yes, that's exactly what she thought.

He realized he'd better get inside the house, before the officer on guard duty wondered why he was sitting in the driveway in the dark. Grabbing the package that was sitting on the front seat, he got out of the truck.

He let himself into the house. No one was in the living room, maybe they were in the kitchen? He walked into the kitchen. Nope, no one in there either. Where the hell were they?

He listened for a moment and realized he heard voices coming from the backyard. He stepped out the back door. Emily was sitting on one of his wooden chairs down by the water, her legs pulled up underneath her. She was talking to an HPD Officer that was standing a short distance away.

Steve's heart lurched in his chest. This was getting ridiculous, it would seem that he couldn't get anywhere near the girl without having some sort of physical reaction to seeing her. And somehow he doubted increasing his proximity was going to alleviate the problem.

As he walked down toward the chairs, he could make out was she was saying.

"Seriously, it still looks dangerous. I mean, surfing fine, but once the waves get big enough, you're not scared?"

Neither Emily, nor the officer she was talking to, had noticed Steve approaching. Some job of protecting you're doing, Steve thought. Emily is smiling at the officer and he is oblivious to all else.

"Well if you don't know what you're doing, you shouldn't be out there at all. Wait, didn't you say you're from California? Aren't you supposed to surf?" the HPD officer asks Emily.

"Actually, she was always more of a sunbathing on the beach type of girl," Steve speaks from behind them.

Emily's head shoots in his direction and he is rewarded with a big smile. Officer Shin jumps with a start as if stung by an insect.

"Oh um, Commander McGarrett, Ms. Burns asked if she could wait out here for a while," the young officer stammers and blushes red to his ears.

Steve laughs, "Yeah Mike, it's okay. You're not in trouble."

"Sorry," Emily says in apology, "I just had to get outside. It's so beautiful compared to L.A., Officer Shin was nice enough to keep me company."

He's supposed to be keeping you from getting stabbed again, Steve thinks, but keeps it to himself.

To the officer he continues, "I got it from here Mike. You can take off."

Officer Shin nods back. "Thank you Commander." To Emily he turns with another nod, "Nice to meet you Ms. Burns.," He turns and walks back toward the house and his squad car.

Once the officer is safely out of ear shot, Steve turns to Emily with a smile, "So did you get his life story out of him?"

"Hmm? I have no idea what you mean," she feigns innocence.

"Uh-huh. Okay."

"Did you know that Officer Shin has only been on the force for a few years? And he is apparently quite a good surfer in his free time," she smiles up at Steve.

He laughs, "Yeah I thought so. Interrogating the poor guy I send out here to watch you."

"Oh come on, I couldn't leave him here for hours and not talk to him at all could I?"

Emily looks down at the brown paper bag Steve is carrying and looks back up at Steve quizzically.

"Oh, you want to know what is in this bag?" he asks with a smirk.

She cocks her head to the side, eyeing the bag with a sidelong glance. "Well now that you mention it."

He smiles at her but doesn't answer right away. "I stopped and picked up something for you. I figured after the day you had you'd need it," he finally tells her.

Steve reaches into the bag and pulls out a six pack of hard cider.

Emily's eyes light up and she smiles at him, "you are officially my hero."

"Yeah, well I remember how much you love beer," he says with a sarcastic lilt to his voice, "and I thought you could use a drink."

Steve opens a bottle and begins to hand it to her. Just as her hand reaches the bottle, he pulls it back out of her reach.

"You know, maybe I should check, are you allowed to have this?" he teases her, and her eyes narrow.

"Oh yes, I am most certainly allowed to have it," she tells him. "Hand it over," she puts out her hand again. Her voice is serious, but he can hear her amusement just underneath.

He laughs and pulls a bottle opener out of bag. He pops the cap and places the bottle in her outstretched hand.

She accepts the bottle and takes a sip, leaning her head back against the chair, closing her eyes. Steve just watches her, a small smile on his face. After a long moment she looks sideways at him.

"What you're not drinking?" she asks confused.

He raises an eyebrow at her. "Yes I am, just not that," his smile widens. "I'll be right back."

Emily laughs and Steve disappears into the house before reemerging with a six pack of beer. He sits down in the chair next to her and opens a bottle.

He takes a sip of his drink and looks over at her. He turns his gaze first to her arm then her neck. "How do you feel? Does it still hurt?" he asks.

She looks back at him and he can see her body tense visibly. She self-consciously moves her left hand to touch the bandage on her neck, as she looks down at her feet and away from Steve. "Oh, it's much better now," she finally answers him. "The nap today helped, and I took some Advil. I'll be okay."

He continues to watch her for a moment, but decides to drop the subject since it's making her uncomfortable.

"So…" she begins then stops, "John Lincoln?" She turns her head back to look at Steve.

Steve nods and looks at her. "You don't have to worry about him. He's in custody."

"And….?" she gives Steve a pointed look.

Steve lets out a short laugh and shakes his head. "Em…" he looks back at her. Yeah, she's not going to give this up.

"The attack was ordered by an employee of Richardson Importing. We're having him brought in for questioning in L.A.," he tells her.

"Richardson?" her face grows confused again. "Why would he need to attack me?"

"Well you weren't supposed to be here in person, maybe he thought you came out here because you were on to something."

She shakes her head, "he's not importing wine is he?"

Steve nods, "that would be my first guess, yes." He shoots Emily a look, "but we will know more after we hear what this William Lincoln tells the LAPD tomorrow."

Emily tips her head back against the chair and looks out at the water. "I don't know if I should wish I had stayed in L.A. to avoid getting attacked, or if I should be glad to have come out here so you could find out what this guy is up to."

Steve doesn't look at her. "Well I do wish you hadn't gotten attacked, but I am glad you're here," he tells her.

He can tell from the corner of his eye that she's turned to look at him again, but he's having trouble meeting her gaze and keeps looking forward.

They sit in silence for a minute without talking.

Emily speaks first. "So it looks like you were holding out on me."

Steve turns his head toward her. He's fairly certain confusion must be written on his face.

"What do you mean?" he asks her.

She raises her hand and waves it around indicating the water, the beach, the sky. "How could you never bring me here? It's beautiful. You grew up here?"

He is so caught up in watching her that he doesn't answer right away. Suddenly, it hits him that he's staring at her and his face grows hot. He jerks his head to look away and gathers his thoughts to reply.

"Oh that, no, you're right, I was lucky," his voice stumbles a bit. "It is nice here. Guess there was never enough time for us to get away."

Steve stares out at the water for a short while.

"Plus you know my relationship with my Dad was not the best so…" Steve swallows, trying to clear the tightness that has crept into his chest.

Emily turns to look at him placing her hand on his arm.

God that feels good, he thinks. He looks back at her and can see the sympathy in her eyes.

"Steve, I'm so sorry about your Dad," she tells him quietly. "I know how much he meant to you, even if things were strained."

Steve looks away from her and studies the sand in front of his chair. "Thank you, I appreciate that. It hasn't been easy," he eventually manages to say. "Who told you?"

She takes her hand back and he wishes she hadn't. "I called Dan last week to try and track you down," she tells him. "That was the first I'd heard you were here and what had happened. If I had known, I would have called to check on you a long time ago."

Steve nods, still not looking at her. "I know you would have. Besides I'm fine, it's not like I'm not busy. It keeps my mind from dwelling on this stuff." He gives a small bitter laugh. "Okay, well some of the keeping busy has been related to his death but…"

"Still Victor Hess?" she asks.

He thinks he can hear an angry undercurrent running through her voice when she mentions Hess.

"No, he's dead. But there's more to it than that." He hesitates before continuing. "There is something bigger that I'm chasing, and it's always just ahead of me out of reach." He can't help the frustration that is creeping into his voice. "I feel like every answer I get, gives me a new question."

Emily pauses for a moment before responding. She reaches out her hand again, and lightly brushes his arm to get his attention. His head jerks up at her touch and he looks back at her.

"So basically not much has changed since we were last together then?" she gives him a small smile.

Steve chuckles, "No, not too much it seems."

She bites her lip and wrinkles her nose a bit, "I did try to check up on you, you know." She watches him for his reaction. "Today, when I was in the car with Kono," she adds.

He shakes his head, "Uh-huh, I'm sure you did."

"She mentioned that you'd been to prison for a short while?"

"Yes, but that was a mistake." He looks at her and smiles a little.

"And you were abducted and tortured?"

Steve sighs and leans back in his chair, taking another sip of his drink. "Yeah, there was that too."

Steve speaks again with his eyes closed. "Guess I should have warned Kono about you and your ability to extract information."

Emily laughs, "Old habits die hard."

He can feel her watching him. He looks back at her and her face has grown serious. She's only succeeding in making him wish she could be here when he needs her.

"I'm fine," he says instead.

"Steve?"

"Em, I'm fine, really." He looks back at her and tries to give her a smile. From the look on her face he can tell she's not convinced about the fine part.

She breaks his eye contact and nods her head several times, looking back at the water. There is an awkward silence for a few minutes while she finishes her drink.

Say something before she decides to leave, he keeps thinking. Like what exactly? Should he ask about Jason? Sure, why not bring that up, because it would be such a fun subject. Ultimately, Emily ends up solving the dilemma for him.

She starts speaking as she gets up from her chair. "Well it's been a long, interesting day. I think I'm going to head off to bed." Steve looks up at her and she gives him a weak smile. "Thanks for the drink."

He nods back at her. "You're welcome. You know where you're going?"

"Yes, I found the guest room when I got here."

He swallows, not sure what to say to her. "Okay."

"Goodnight Steve." Her eyes are still on his face.

"Goodnight." He responds.

She turns and walks back toward the house. He has leans his head back against the chair and closes his eyes.

Really Steve, you're going to do this again? Just going to let her walk away and not say anything to stop her. The voice inside won't shut up, what do you want?

His eyes pop open. "Damn it," he mutters under his breath. He turns and sees that Emily is half way back to the house. He jumps up from his chair and sprints toward her. "Em, wait," he calls.

She continues to keep walking. He guesses that she can hear, but is ignoring him. Finally she does stop, but she hasn't turned around.

Stopping is a good sign at least, he tells himself.

Steve catches up to her. His heart beat is hammering in his chest. He moves so that he is standing close behind her, almost but not quite touching. After a hesitation he reaches out and places his hands on her waist. She remains still, facing away from him toward the house.

He leans forward, his head over her shoulder and his mouth close to her ear. He waits for a reaction from her, but there is none.

"Don't go yet, please," he manages to ask her.

Emily doesn't answer but exhales a deep breath. She stands quietly for a moment longer. Steve takes the opportunity to pull her closer to him. His hands creep around to rest against her stomach so that he's holding her from behind.

Yep, he was right about one thing, proximity is definitely not helping his physical reaction to her.

She has made no move to step away from his embrace or remove his hands from her midsection. He's trying to take encouragement from this fact. Finally, she turns her head up to meet his gaze, looking over her shoulder. He can feel her hair brush against his neck and her face is only inches from his. He gives her a small apologetic smile that she eventually returns.

With some difficulty, he lets go and steps away from her. As he turns, he takes one of her hands in his own, and starts leading her back toward the water, away from the house.

Once he reaches the chairs, Steve sits down, but he keeps hold of her hand. She looks down at him, confused. He tugs gently on her hand, indicating that she should sit with him.

He looks up at her, and his heart constricts again. Her silhouette is outlined by the sky behind her. There's a half moon and the light reflects in her hair.

When she realizes what he wants, she laughs a little. He can see her biting her lower lip, thinking. She smiles hesitantly, and then she turns and sinks down into his chair. She sits on the edge of it, just in front of him. He waits a moment before reaching forward and slowly wrapping his arms around her waist again, pulling her toward him. She sits awkwardly, leaning forward for a moment before she gives in and leans back, resting against his chest.

They sit quietly for a few minutes. Steve is trying with difficulty not to let the contact with her body distract him too much. He's not really succeeding since all he can think about is how good it feels to have her warmth and softness in his arms. Eventually he manages to speak.

"Em, the night we broke up, and I told you to take the job in L.A.," his voice is very quiet, "why did you think I let you go?"

She doesn't answer him or move.

He continues, "You said you didn't think that you could handle being together anymore, and you had a job offer. Do you remember?"

After a silence Emily exhales a breath, "Yes, I remember."

"Why did you say that?"

She starts speaking, but there is a tremor in her voice. "I was overwhelmed. I didn't know how to cope with your life. You were gone a lot and I was always afraid of losing you when you got yourself killed."

Steve nods, "when I didn't ask you to stay and refuse the other job, did you think I didn't want you with me? That I just didn't care enough about you?"

She doesn't speak again, but a small shudder runs through her and he has his answer.

"Em…" he needs her to turn her head and look at him, but she doesn't. He raises his hand to her cheek and gently turns her head so that she can see his face, looking up over her shoulder. Her eyes are suspiciously damp.

"I thought I was doing the right thing." His voice catches, "I wanted you to be happy, and to be _safe_." He puts pointed emphasis on the last word.

Her eyebrows contract briefly before her eyes widen with shock. Her right hand pops up to cover her mouth.

"Oh my God," she whispers, "you knew."

He swallows and breaks her eye contact. This part of the conversation is stinging him a bit. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"Who told you?" she demands.

"Your co-worker April called me and told me. She said that you were getting death threats that you weren't taking seriously." Steve can see anger flooding Emily's face as she shakes her head. "She thought you weren't going to tell me about it and that I should know."

"It was none of her business," she tells him, turning her face away to look forward.

"No it wasn't, but you still should have told me yourself." He's trying to say this as gently as possible.

"Steve, what could you have done?" She looks quickly back up at him and her voice has a pleading tone. "I didn't want you to worry about me, and I didn't want you to do anything crazy like…" she stops in midsentence.

"Crazy, like pushing you away and telling you to take a job in another city?" he looks back at her.

She lets out a small pained laugh, "Yep, pretty much."

He shakes his head. "Emmy…" he exhales, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to hurt you. I just wanted to do the right thing. I never thought that you would believe…" His eyes fix on hers, willing her to hear him. "It killed me to let you go, you have to know that."

"I didn't know," he can barely hear her voice.

He nods, "I'm telling you now, okay?"

She continues to stare at him before finally nodding back. Eventually she looks away from him toward the water, but she takes her hand from the chair armrest, moves it over his, and laces their fingers together.

As she wriggles her body, trying to get comfortable he thinks, and he can't help the smile that rises to his face, thankfully unseen by Emily. Being this close to her is helping him gain the courage to have this conversation. At the very least it makes escape more difficult for either of them if a painful subject comes up. But on the flip side, being this close to her is making his thinking cloudy at times.

He can feel her take in a deep breath. She lets it out and clears her throat. "I feel like such an idiot. I made so many mistakes too," she tells him quietly.

"You mean other than not telling me about the death threats?" He can see her flick her eyes sideways at him, the corner of her mouth curling up slightly.

"Yes, other than that," she tells him.

Steve remains silent, waiting for her to explain.

"I should never have thought that I could just move away, that our being apart would make me feel better. Because I don't feel better, and moving on isn't easy either. Yes, I was overwhelmed and scared, but I shouldn't have left, because I didn't really want that. I made a mistake."

Steve closes his eyes trying to digest her words and compose his own thoughts. This would be your opportunity, he thinks. It's time to ask the big question.

"Em, do you want to tell me about Jason?"

She's very quiet and doesn't answer him right away. Finally she says, "You talked to him on my phone while I was asleep." It wasn't a question.

"Did you call him back this afternoon? Tell him everything that's happened?" he asks.

Another shiver runs through her body. "Yes, I told him." She lets out a short laugh, "he wasn't happy with me."

"Yeah, I wouldn't blame him for that," Steve tells her.

"I told him I'd be on a flight home tomorrow afternoon."

Steve shuts his eyes, not liking what he's hearing, or the pain it's causing him.

Eventually he manages to speak. "You said you came out here to find me, right?"

"Yes, that's true," she admits.

She's not going to make this easy for him. "If you have Jason, why were you looking for me?"

She doesn't answer right away. "I…" she takes a deep breath and lets it out, "Jason has a sister. His sister happens to have a bit of a big mouth." She stops again before continuing, "Two weeks ago she let slip that's he's been ring shopping. He's going to propose."

Okay, now he definitely feels ill again. He decides to remain silent, not sure what to say.

Emily continues, "When Rebecca told me his plans I knew… I knew I couldn't answer him without figuring some things out."

"Me?" Steve says quietly.

Emily slowly nods.

"So I made some phone calls to attempt to find you and see you again."

"And now that you've seen me?" He knows that his voice is colored by the fear of her answer.

She turns her head to look up at him over her shoulder.

"I can't marry him."

He stares back at her blankly. His whole world feels like it's been tilted and is about to slip off its axis.

He can see panic flash in her eyes and he knows she's misreading his expression. She hurries to say more, "I'm not saying you need to forgive me for hurting you, because I understand if you can't. And I'm not saying we should get back together. I understand if you don't feel that way about me anymore, but I can't go back home and stay with a man I don't really love. It wouldn't be fair to anyone."

Steve stares at her without speaking. Emily turns to face forward, away from him. He can feel the muscles in her shoulder and back tense against his chest.

His head is spinning. Relief floods through him along with the lone thought, she's not going to marry Jason.

They sit together silently for several minutes. Steve is frozen and afraid to move. Finally he tightens the arm around her waist. He can feel the warmth of her body under his hand. He lowers his face to her shoulder and rests his forehead against her neck. His heart is racing. He hesitates before finally pressing his mouth against her skin in a soft kiss. He feels the tension release from her body and she sinks into him, relaxing. He turns his face into her hair and lets out a breath, closing his eyes.

They sit that way for a several minutes. He can feel the rhythm of her breathing. His voice escapes him, barely audible. "I missed you."

He lifts his head as she shifts her weight, turning her body to the side in his lap and curling her head to rest against his shoulder. He looks down into her face. Her eyes are closed, her features content. She snuggles a bit closer to him. A small smile creeps across his face.

"Would you mind repeating that?" he whispers.

"Which part?" she asks, eyes still closed.

He laughs, "You know which part."

"I made a mistake?" She opens one eye a slit to look at him, but squeezes it shut again.

He leans his head closer again to her ear. "I don't think I heard that correctly. Would you remind repeating that again?"

She opens her eyes and looks up at him her eyes twinkling. "You're never going to let this go are you?"

He shakes his head, "Not for a really long time, no." He smiles at her, "one more time please."

She raises her right hand and places it on his face. Her eyes gaze up into his and she strokes his cheek with her thumb. "I made a mistake. I shouldn't have left you."

With her words, all the air is sucked from his lungs, leaving him breathless. His eyes are caught in hers. A shy smile breaks over her face. A sensation of heat releases from deep inside his body, racing up and radiating outward through his chest. He lets the impulse take him and bends forward capturing her mouth in a strong kiss. His movement is so quick that she is momentarily frozen, motionless in his arms. He doesn't let her go, but squeezes her closer to him with the arm still wrapped around her back. Rapidly she softens under his grasp. Her mouth begins to move gently against his and she's kissing him back.

God, to kiss her and feel her soft lips on his, to hold her and touch his hand to her waist, it feels amazing. The warmth running through him only grows.

Her hand slips from his face to behind his neck, her fingertips brushing over his skin. Her lips part against his and he lets his tongue brush lightly against hers. His hand runs from where it is resting on her knee, up to her thigh, softly stroking her leg with his thumb and fingertips. As his hand moves slowly back and forth, it makes its way closer to her rear end. She begins to shiver in his arms. She shifts her weight, increasing the pressure of her body against his. His body reacts to her movements and he breaks the kiss with a short intake of breath. She giggles softly, her mouth close to his. He leans his forehead against hers, eyes closed.

"Would you remind repeating that?" she teases him.

The fingers of her right hand are stroking the hair at the back of his neck, and he's working hard to keep his breathing even. He's painfully aware of every inch of her body that's touching his own. He kisses her again gently, but she pulls her mouth away, just barely. A beautiful low laugh escapes her throat.

"Mm-mm, not that," her voice is husky and breathless, and she shakes her head lightly.

"Hmmm?" he responds to her question, too distracted to follow her train of thought.

"What you said before," she whispers.

He opens his eyes and pulls his head back from hers just far enough to read her expression. Gentle amusement plays on her lips. He can't help himself, his eyes rove from her eyes down to her mouth, wanting to kiss her again. He forces his eyes back to hers.

"What I said?" he asks, out of breath.

Her smile widens and her eyes are sparkling. "Mm-hmm." She leans forward without closing her eyes. She softly brushes her parted lips against his again, before pulling back.

He shakes his head confused. "I don't…" his voice trails off, trying to recall what she wants from him. Then it hits him what she would like to hear again. His mouth curls up in a smile, he tips his forehead against hers, closing his eyes. He runs the hand on her leg slowly down to her knee, then up again. He squeezes her waist under his hand.

"I missed you," he whispers.

He can feel her body contract as a breath escapes her. She tightens the hand on his neck.

"I missed you too."


	8. Chapter 8

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns and Jason are my OC.

* * *

><p>"I missed you too," she tells him.<p>

She can't help the smile that has broken across her face. Her heart is pounding in her chest and she's so flushed that she feels lightheaded. She loves the feeling of being held safe in his arms. His left hand has been stroking her leg and has crept further upwards. Right now she does not mind in the least.

There is a small voice trying to be heard somewhere from the back of her brain, telling her they should pause, take a step back.

She has, after all, been swamped with emotion, trying to process their conversation over the last half hour. Starting with her idiotic assumption that what he had _wanted_ her to do when they broke up was the same as what he had actually _told_ her to do. Turns out that what he had told her was really the opposite of what he had wanted. And from there, she could move on to his admission that he did, if fact, miss her.

Since most of her decisions had been predicated on the idea that yes, he had been fine with her leaving, and yes, he'd probably be happier with her gone, her head was still reeling from second guessing herself.

Without realizing it, her gaze has crept off into the distance as her thoughts have consumed her.

"Emmy?" there is a quiet note of concern in his voice, and it brings her back to the present. Her eyes latch back onto his and her heart clenches at the naked vulnerability she finds in his face, a truly rare thing to find in him. It makes her want to reassure him again.

She slips her hand back to his cheek. He closes his eyes at her touch and she leans forward to kiss him.

His reaction is slow at first, but gains intensity quickly. She leans into him, trying to get closer.

Unfortunately her attention is quickly pulled away and down, to a buzzing sound coming from her pocket. Her eyes slowly open, confused. Steve must hear it too, as he pulls away from her, his brows furrowed.

She closes her eyes again, "I'm not answering it," she mumbles.

"Em…" his voice has changed. It has taken on a warning edge, the kind of voice you use when talking to a small child that is bent on committing some sort of mischief.

"Let it go to voicemail."

"Em, you need to answer it."

Her eyes pop open. He's staring at her and disappointment has lit on his face. He's right and she knows it.

Just wonderful Emily, you've now succeeded in hurting both of the men that you care about in the space of twenty-four hours. Fantastic.

She holds Steve's eyes for another moment before nodding her head.

She reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cell phone. As she slides her finger across the screen to answer it, she turns her body forward, pulling away from Steve.

She lifts the phone to her ear. "Hello?"

"Hi, it's me." Jason's voice hits her like a punch in the stomach.

Oh my God, what am I doing, she thinks?

Emily feels the gentle pressure of Steve's hands at her waist again, but this time he is giving her a nudge, indicating she should stand up and let him go.

She has no choice but to agree. She can't very well make him stay here. She wouldn't want to if their positions were reversed.

She stands up and walks away from the chair, turning her head to try and read Steve's expression. It's too late; all she can see is his back, as he retreats toward the house. She turns her attention back toward the phone.

"Hi." Her voice is quiet and unsure of what to say. It was so clear earlier what she wanted and who she really loved, but that doesn't change the reality of Jason's voice on the phone.

"I couldn't stop thinking about you. I was worried," he tells her.

Emily reaches her hand up to run her fingers through her hair. "I'm fine, really. You shouldn't worry." She can feel a pain right now that has nothing to do with her wounds.

"Yeah, I know that. I still wish I could be there though." There's a wistful ache to his words.

It would so easy to go back home and fall into her routine with Jason. "I know you do," she says.

"I'll pick you up from the airport tomorrow night." His voice sounds hopeful.

There's a great deal she's not sure of right now, but she does know she won't be up for that when she gets in. "You don't have to do that. It's going to be very late," she says.

There is a long silence on the other end of the phone before Jason speaks.

"So you're staying at your friend's house tonight, the one who answered the phone earlier?" Jason's tone has darkened a bit. She's afraid this conversation is about to turn in a direction she won't like.

"Yes, I told you, he's on a task force here that is investigating my case. He thought it wasn't a good idea for me to stay alone because of what happened last night."

"Uh-huh." His reply is brisk.

"Jason…" she doesn't know how to continue her thought.

"So this has nothing to do with his being your ex."

Yep, here it comes, time to pay the piper. She doesn't answer him.

"Emily, look, I get it. You're hung up on this guy. You think I don't know that? I've always known that. I just hoped that…. I don't know what the hell I hoped."

"Jay, come on, that's not fair. Yes, I admit I was planning on trying to see Steve while I was here. But I certainly didn't plan on getting stabbed."

"But you don't deny you still having feelings for the guy?" he asks her flatly.

"Jason," she's almost yelling now. "You want to do this now, over the phone, really?"

"You didn't answer my question," he bites back.

"No, I didn't."

"Okay, fine, but answer me this, why didn't you tell me you were going to see Steve on this trip of yours?"

Ouch, she knows she deserves that jab, but his tone is taking a toll on her temper. Her reply is not as politic as it should be.

"Well for starters, I didn't tell you because it's my damn life and I'm the one who has to decide what I want. And I didn't tell you because I was only planning on seeing him briefly. It was no big deal. Everything else has been beyond my control."

Except for asking for Steve at the hospital, following him to his work, agreeing to stay at his house, kissing him, yeah, except for all that it's been totally beyond my control.

There's silence on the phone again. Finally Jason speaks. "Look Emily, you're right, you do have to decide what to do with your own life, just like I have to decide what to do with mine. I'm not promising what I'm going to want when you get back here. But I can tell you this… I do love you. And I did want a future with you, did, past tense. Now you need to ask yourself, regardless of how you feel about him, when was the last time Steve could tell you either of those things, because if I remember correctly, his track record with wanting you around hasn't been so hot."

Emily's eyes have begun to sting and she needs to get off of the phone before she starts to cry in earnest.

"Jay, you're angry at me and you think I'm an idiot for not running home to you. You're probably right. If you want me to say I'm being an idiot, then you get your wish. Fine, I admit I haven't been thinking clearly. Maybe I haven't made the best choices either. I could very well be setting myself up for more pain just being here. I'll get on that plane tomorrow, and Steve will go happily back to his life here without a look back, and all I will have accomplished is hurting you and ending up alone. Feel free to say I told you so when that happens. Right now however, I am going to hang up this phone. Call me or don't call me, when I get home. It's your choice."

The pain in her stomach has become unbearable and tears have started to run down her face. What the hell is wrong with me, she can't help thinking. Love Jason, marry him, live happily ever after. It should be so easy. Why the hell isn't it that easy?

"Good night Jay," she says quietly.

There's a silence on the phone but she can tell he hasn't hung up.

"Good night, Em. I really am glad you're okay. You scared me."

"I know. I'm sorry," she manages to squeak out.

"I'm sorry too. Goodbye." His voice is softer and sad.

"Goodbye." The phone goes dead in her hand. Jason has hung up.

A sob rises up through her, knotting her stomach and burning her chest in the process. A strangled sound escapes her throat. She lifts her hand to press it against her mouth. She turns and starts to run toward the house. Her only thought is reaching the guest room before Steve sees her and her humiliation is complete.

* * *

><p>Emily reaches the house and opens the back door, swiping one tear after another off of her face with angry flicks of her hand. She is pulling in each breath with small hitching gasps, before shakily exhaling in fits and starts.<p>

The refrain, I am a rotten, terrible person, has implanted itself firmly in her head. That along with, please don't let me see Steve.

She enters the kitchen on her way to the guest room. She raises her eyes and they fall directly on Steve. He's leaned against the countertop, beer bottle in hand, staring vacantly at the floor.

His head jumps up a short while after she enters the room. She can see in his expression that it takes much less time for him to register how upset she is.

He immediately places his drink on the countertop and starts toward her. His eyes are stricken with worry.

"Emmy, what the hell? Are you okay?"

She's frozen in the doorway and Steve has reached her. He places his hand on her upper arm. It would be so easy to let him pull her into a hug. Just one little step forward on her part is all it would take.

She hesitates, still staring at him speechless. She bites her lip in an attempt to stifle her crying. Finally she shakes her head from left to right, and pulls out of his grasp. She brushes past him, trying to ignore the hurt look on his face. She lets her feet speed up to a jog down the hallway toward the guest room door.

At last her hand wraps around the door knob and twists, letting the door fly open. She can hear no sounds from behind her and is both grateful and sad at the same time that Steve isn't following her.

You made this mess, Emily. She can't get rid of the thought. You screwed up with Steve, and now you've screwed up with Jason.

She stumbles toward the bed, kicking the door shut behind her. She quickly pulls off her shoes. Her fingers grapple with the bedspread and sheet, ripping them back before climbing in.

Her stomach is still twisted and between it and various other pains in her body, she's not entirely sure that she isn't going to be sick.

She wraps her left arm under the pillow and pulls the covers up with her right hand. She squeezes her eyes shut, willing the tears to stop. She buries her head in the pillow taking a couple of deep breaths.

The breathing starts to help and her heart beat slows a bit, her breaths hitching in less and less.

Her head is spinning. Steve and Jason, she has hurt both of them. What does she want? Does what she want even matter? After all the mistakes she's made, what she wants may very well be a moot point.

She hears a sound at the door behind her and tension seizes her body. After last night she supposes noises in dark rooms will inevitably result in panic for a while. She lies very still, holding her breath, waiting for the noise to go away. With a start it hits her that the noise is the turn of the door knob. She hears the door swing open.

"Em?" Steve's voice reaches her.

She exhales a shuttering breath. The tears are back again, sliding down her cheeks faster than before. She swipes them away again.

"Em, we need to change your bandages."

She doesn't say anything but tries to lie still. Jason's words are ringing in her ears. His track record for wanting you around isn't so hot.

Please just go away, she says a silent prayer. He missed you, but that doesn't mean he still loves you.

She hears his footsteps as the wood creaks under his feet. No such luck, apparently he's not leaving so easily.

The footsteps stop right at the edge of the bed.

"Em?" he asks again quietly.

At the sound of his voice the pain in her stomach grows worse.

There is the sound of his movement, and she realizes that he's sat down on the bed beside her.

She is facing away from him and he is sitting beside her back. His body is almost touching hers. After a moment of silence his warm hand lands on her shoulder. He shakes it gently.

"Emily, look at me please." She can hear something in his voice that she is trying to identify, pain maybe.

Curiosity eventually gets the better of her and she rolls over on to her back to look up at him.

His face falls when her eyes lock onto his.

She sucks in a breath. For a moment she had forgotten what the crying must have made her look like. She squeezes her eyes shut and shakes her head a bit to clear it.

Eventually she opens her eyes, looking up at him. "Steve, I'm sorry. I… I shouldn't have…" She shakes her head again. "Until I can talk to Jason in person…"

Come on Emily, finish a thought, damn it, she scolds herself.

Steve has turned his head away to look out the window. She can see him swallow and there is tension in his face. He looks back to her and nods his head.

"I know," he tries to give her a smile but mostly fails. "I understand."

She manages to speak again. "Do you have any gauze?" She is looking over his shoulder trying to avoid eye contact.

Out of the corner of her eye she can see him nod a bit before answering.

"Um, yeah. Here it is." He raises his right hand, which is holding a package of gauze and a roll of tape. "Give me your arm," he says.

She holds her injured arm out to him, and he carefully pulls off the tape and the bandage. He then moves his hand to her neck to remove the bandages there as well.

His fingertips brush against the bare skin of her neck as he works, and a shiver runs through her. She sincerely hopes he hasn't noticed.

Not now Emily, she commands herself.

He wads up the old bandages into a ball and leans over slightly to place them on the nightstand next to the bed. She tries to lie very still as she patiently waits for him to open the new gauze packages and rip off pieces of tape. He covers the stitches on her lower arm with the new bandage.

When he finishes, he remains motionless, cradling her injured arm in his hand. She can feel his index finger softly stroke it, just to the side of the bandage. A flutter courses through her body as she wonders what the expression on his face must be. But through sheer will power, she is still avoiding looking at his face.

Come on Emily, hold on she tells herself.

Steve leans over her neck. Again he unwraps the new piece of gauze and pulls off pieces of tape. He places the gauze over her stitches and uses the tape to secure it.

When he is done fixing the bandage on her neck, his head lingers there, close to her own. He remains there for a moment and she holds her breath. Eventually he lowers his head again, and presses his mouth against the exposed skin of her neck, give it a not so gentle kiss. More than a flutter takes off in her body.

"Steve," she tries to give her voice a warning edge, but is having trouble.

He sits up and away from her. His mouth turns up a bit in a small smile. "I know, I know, I'll behave."

Once again, she can't help it. She smiles a bit back at him, and the pain inside eases.

He places his hand first on her right cheek, and then on her left, wiping away any remnants of tears with his thumb. "Sleep, you need to sleep," he commands her.

"I know," she tells him honestly. She's exhausted. As if to emphasize the point, without warning, she yawns. She tries to lift her hand to cover her mouth, but is too late, and is embarrassed. He laughs a little on seeing her yawn.

He slides back and stands up so she can lower her legs over the side and get out of bed. He grabs her left hand and she scoots out of bed. She runs her eyes around the room, looking for her bag.

She finds it and starts rummaging around for her nightshirt. She's aware that Steve is standing in the door to the room watching her. "I'll be right back," she hears him say.

She turns to look over her shoulder at him but he's already gone. She leaves the room and finds the bathroom, changing her clothes, and brushing her teeth. When she gets back to the room, she places her things back in the bag. She stands up and sees that Steve is back in the doorway, having changed into his sleep pants and a tee-shirt.

Oh God, please don't do this to me, she thinks. Her emotions are just barely under control, ready to spin off like a tilt-a-whirl at the least provocation.

"Want company?" he asks, the same small smile as before planted on his face.

"Steven…."

"I promise no funny business, really. Scout's honor." His mischievous smile widens and he gives her the Boy Scout salute.

She crosses her arms over her chest. She eyes him silently, trying to ignore his smirk. Finally she manages to answer him.

"And I'm supposed to believe you? I think I've heard that line before, and if I remember correctly it was a blatant lie." She's trying really hard not to smile back at him, but the last hour has been so stressful, she just wants to give in.

"Yeah, well, this time I do mean it." His smile disappears and his face grows serious. "I want to stay with you."

"What about Jason?"

"Hey, like I said no funny business. And besides, if Jason had wanted me to sleep in the other room, then he shouldn't have made you cry."

Emily's throat starts to close up on her, and she looks down at the floor. Her tears have only been banished for a few minutes, and Steve's words are enough for them to spring to the surface again.

She hears Steve cross the room and feels him take her hand in his. She looks up and meets his eyes.

"Sleep, that's all. Okay?"

She holds his eyes, finally nodding.

She crosses to the bed and lifts the covers, climbing under them. She slides across to the far side of the bed, lying on her stomach; her head is on the pillow facing away from Steve. She wiggles a bit to get comfortable and winces when her movements cause the wound on her neck to sting. She tries to be still to stop it from hurting. She can feel Steve climb into the bed next to her.

She lifts her head and turns it to the opposite direction so that she's looking at him. He's lying on his left side and is facing her. He gives her a smile and reaches out his right hand to brush her hair out of her face.

"Good night Em," he tells her softly.

She just stares at him without saying anything for a moment. All the turmoil, the questions and answers of the last day is temporarily forgotten.

"Good night." She smiles at him before turning her head away, and falling asleep.

* * *

><p>Emily is awoken the next morning by the presence of sunlight streaming through the window. She also becomes rapidly aware of the warmth of Steve's body pressed against her from behind, and the weight of his arm draped over her midsection. While technically not the funny business she was referring to, his closeness is not helping her maintain her own resolution to behave until she can end things with Jason. Her mind is telling her one thing, her body on the other hand seems to have a mind of its own. She could easily stay here, happily cuddled up with Steve.<p>

Yes, and feel like even more of a total creep when you see Jason. Get a grip Emily, she tells herself.

She decides to try and get out of bed before Steve wakes up. She rolls over on to her back, with the result that his hand comes to rest on her stomach. She turns her head to look at him and is startled to be met with the blue of his open eyes watching her.

"You're awake," she stammers, looking back at him, trying to read his expression.

"When was the last time you remember waking up before me exactly?" He smiles at her a little, but face holds a sadness that makes her nervous.

"I have to concede that you have a point." She reaches out her hand to lay it on his cheek. "Care to share what you're thinking?" she asks quietly.

"Not really." He exhales a breath.

"Okay, but you know you're going to have to tell me right?"

He closes his eyes. "Yes, I know."

She waits, he's not answering. Her stomach has started to hurt again. This isn't going to end well.

He opens his eyes. "Maybe you shouldn't break up with Jason."

Emily just stares at him for a moment.

His track record for wanting you around isn't so hot.

Wordlessly she slides away from Steve, out of bed. Without looking back at him, she walks around the bed to the door. She turns the knob, opens the door, and leaves the room, slamming the door behind her.

* * *

><p><strong>Please, please leave a review or even just a thought! :)<strong>


	9. Chapter 9

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note: **Sorry this is a short one. I was hoping on posting this and ch.10 at the same time, but not done yet. So I thought I'd put this out there.

Thank you, thank you to all who have read. Please consider leaving a **review.** :)

* * *

><p>Danny lets himself into Steve's house and can hear the sound of banging cabinet doors and angry muttering before he even enters the kitchen. He walks in to find Emily opening and closing the cabinets, none too gently. She hasn't noticed him yet so he figures he should announce himself.<p>

"Good morning? Can I help you find something?" Danny asks her as way of introduction.

Emily jumps at the sound of his voice as she turns around. "Oh my God."

Whoops. Okay Danny, not a good idea to sneak up on the girl who was attacked the day before yesterday. Nice move.

Danny raises his hand in a small wave. "Sorry, didn't mean to scare you. I've got a key. Let myself in."

He can see her face is tight and pale. Her breathing is a little too fast. She takes in a slow deep breath and lets it out again.

"Oh," she shakes her head, appearing apologetic. "No, it's okay. I just was distracted I guess. "

Danny gives her a smile, hoping to diffuse the awkwardness of the situation. Dropping by is beginning to seem less and less like a good idea. But still, the way she was treating the cabinets does not speak well of her current emotional state. Unfortunately Danny has a pretty good idea who might have caused this state of affairs.

"What are you looking for?" he asks her. "I've house sat for Steve a few times so I know where everything is."

She turns to look at Danny and gives him a small smile. He's not sure but he's guessing she's a bit embarrassed to have been caught stomping around.

She scrunches her face up. "Coffee cups?" she asks.

"Ah yes," Danny walks over to a cabinet that she has not yet attacked, and opens it, taking out a coffee cup and handing it to her.

"Do you want one?" she asks.

"Absolutely," he gives her a smile. She returns a small one.

Danny hands Emily a second cup. She fills both from the coffee pot and hands one back to him.

Danny walks across the room to sit at a small table, then looks around, "Where's Steve, don't tell me he's not up?" He looks at Emily, gauging how she reacts to the mention of Steve's name.

Emily has crossed to the refrigerator, opening it to take out a container of milk, her back to Danny. She turns her head over her should to look at Danny, her eyes drawn together in a confused expression.

"Oh," she quickly looks away from Danny, and then out the window, avoiding his eyes. "I think he's in the shower." Her voice has an air of casual nonchalance, but it sounds forced to Danny.

"So what did he do?" Danny comes straight out and asks her.

Emily stands up straight, her eyes wide, "Hmm? What was that?"

Yep, I thought so.

Danny's smile widens, "Steve. He did something to piss you off. It's a special talent he has, pissing people off in general."

Emily tosses her head back to look up at the ceiling. She gives a small laugh and nods. She opens the milk container and pours some into her coffee cup. When she finally looks back at Danny, she tilts her head to one side. "Believe me I know," she says with a straight face.

She leans back against the countertop, her hands wrapped around the cup. She looks at Danny for a moment without speaking, as if considering what else to say. She takes a sip of the coffee and wrinkles her nose. "Needs sugar."

At that moment, Steve enters the kitchen from the hallway. Emily eyes shift and land on him. Danny can see her whole face fall. She keeps her eyes on Steve for a moment, before turning away toward the counter.

After a brief silence Emily turns to look at Danny. She is smiling again, but this time he's sure it's fake. "Do you know where the sugar is?" she asks him.

Danny's eyes flick from Steve back to Emily. From the way Steve is glaring at him, Danny is guessing that he's not happy about Danny's presence. Danny meets Steve's gaze for a moment.

Don't give me that look, I'm here to try and bail you out.

"Sure, no problem," Danny answers her.

Danny leaves his coffee cup and gets up from the table, crossing to another cabinet. As he passes Steve, he shoots him a pointed look. Danny reaches the cabinet and opens the door, taking down a sugar bowl. He crosses back to hand it to Emily who gives him a grateful smile.

"Thanks," she tells him.

He holds her eyes for a second. "You're welcome," he replies with a nod.

Emily turns back to the counter and scoops sugar into her coffee, still in Danny's opinion, ignoring Steve.

Danny walks backwards to the table so that he can catch Steve's eye. He mouths, "What did you do?" pointing an accusing finger at Steve's face.

Steve scowls back. He shakes his head.

Emily turns her head over her shoulder and looks quizzically from Danny to Steve's faces. They both quickly adopt an innocent expression.

As soon as she turns away again, Danny points at Steve. "Asshole," he mouths.

Steve narrows his eyes in irritation at Danny.

Danny raises his eyebrows back at Steve. He folds his arms across his chest.

Try me buddy, just try me.

After a hesitation Steve nods his head to the door, indicating Danny should leave.

Ha, you wish.

Danny shakes his head from side to side, no way. I'm staying to make sure you don't mess this up any more than you already have.

Emily has finished making her coffee, but is still persisting in standing with her back toward Steve.

With a last glance at Danny, Steve walks over to the counter so that he is standing next to Emily. She doesn't look at him.

"Em?"

Danny watches as Steve places his left hand on Emily's hip.

"Danny and I are going to head out to work. Are you going to be okay here by yourself?" Steve asks her.

"Yep, I'll be fine," she replies, her tone is brisk.

"Emmy?"

She doesn't answer him, but continues to look down and sip her coffee.

Steve shoots Danny a look over Emily's shoulder.

"Apologize," Danny mouths and points at Emily. Steve only looks back at Danny, his expression is now neutral at least.

Steve turns back to Emily. Danny watches as Steve pulls Emily closer to him. He leans forward and gives her a kiss on her temple. Danny can see Emily's chin drop down to her chest as she briefly shuts her eyes.

"My flight is at 7pm," she tells him.

"We're going to need you to come back and testify," Steve tells her.

"I know," she says.

Steve's eyes are fixed firmly on Emily's face, but she's not giving in to look at him. "Can I drive you to the airport?" he asks.

"It's fine. I can take a Taxi," she replies.

Danny can see Steve press his mouth into a tight line as he shakes his head. After a hesitation he reaches out and takes Emily by the shoulders, turning her around to face him.

Emily turns her head to look up at Steve but she still hasn't said anything.

"I just want you to make sure you know you're doing the right thing Em." Steve has lowered his voice but Danny can still hear him.

"Steven, believe it or not, I am capable of figuring out for myself what I need to do. I've made enough good and bad decisions that I should be able to tell the difference by now."

"And does the strategy of ignoring me fall under the good or bad decision category right now?" Steve asks her.

"I'll have to let you know later," she tells him.

Steve's face is pinched with tension. At last he turns away from Emily and towards Danny.

"Alright, let's go." He's not really looking at Danny either, but heads for the door exiting the kitchen.

Danny can see Emily's features morph from anger to sadness as Steve turns and walks away from her. Danny walks over and puts his coffee mug down next to the sink. She eventually looks back at him.

Danny figures Steve might kill him for interfering, but what the hell, he'd tell her what he thought anyway.

"Hey, for what it's worth," he smiles at her. "Despite whatever stupid thing he said to you this morning, I've been working with Steve for two years now. And I can guarantee you, the last thing he really wants, or even needs for that matter, is for you to go back to L.A. and never speak to him again. Even if that's what he deserves."

Emily stares back at Danny. She exhales a breath and nods her head. Whether that's a, yes I understand what you're saying nod, or a, yes I agree not to abandon him nod, Danny isn't sure.

With a last smile at Emily, Danny turns and leaves the room to go find Steve.

He finds him sitting in the silver Camaro that Danny has parked in the driveway behind Steve's truck. Danny opens the car door and gets into the passenger seat.

"So to what do I owe the door to door car service Danny?" Steve looks at him sideways and asks.

"What?" Danny responds with mock indignation. "I thought you'd appreciate a ride to work. Can't you just be grateful for once?"

"Uh-huh," Steve replies.

"Okay, no, actually I was being nosy and was hoping on embarrassing you in front of your cute friend in there, by showing up after whatever adult activities you two got up to last night," Danny tells him.

He looks over at Steve, who is looking back at him, irritated.

Danny continues, "I was, however, also prepared to do damage control after you messed things up."

He pauses for Steve's reaction. Steve is staring forward again out of the car.

"Obviously I didn't get what I hoped for. You wanna tell me what you did?" Danny asks.

Steve gives a quick head shake. "No."

"Okay, have it your way," Danny tells him. "Don't say I didn't offer though."

Steve doesn't say anything, instead he grabs the car's gear shift and slams the car into reverse. He steps on the gas and peals rubber out of the driveway.

* * *

><p>Danny is a good distance behind as Steve roughly pushes through the glass doors to 5-0 headquarters. The car ride from Steve's house was unusually quiet. Danny can't help but be curious as to what exactly happened last night, but clearly from Steve's reaction, something did.<p>

Chin and Kono are both already at work. Kono is using the digital display table and Chin is in his office, talking on the phone.

"What have we got?" Steve asks Kono without preamble.

"Not sure," Kono tells him, turning her head to look at Chin then back to Steve. "He's on the phone with LAPD right now. They picked up William Lincoln."

"Okay, good," he says.

Steve is staring at the table. Kono watches him. Steve doesn't notice that's she's looking at him.

"You okay boss?" she asks him.

His head pops up to look back at her. "What?" His eyebrows are narrowed in confusion. "Yeah, I'm fine." He looks back at the table. "So what are you working on?"

Kono looks over at Danny. "He's not fine," Danny mouths to her silently, shaking his head.

Kono nods her head a bit before answering Steve's question. "Emily said that she was here to finalize the purchase of a warehouse. I'm making a list of all the other properties Richardson Importing uses on the Island. So far I've got three." Kono taps the table a few times. The list she'd been looking at disappears and a map of the Island appears in its place.

"The warehouses he is currently using are here, here, and here," Kono tells them as she points to the locations on the screen.

Danny looks up as he sees Chin coming out of his office. Kono and Steve look over to Chin as well.

"Bad news on the William Lincoln front," Chin tells them. "He lawyered up. They're not going to get anything out of him."

"Damn it," Steve mutters. He looks back at Chin. "We don't have enough evidence to charge him with anything. It's just his nephew's word that he ordered the attack. And we still have no idea why they felt like she was a threat."

"Exactly," Chin responds.

Steve shakes his head. "Well, it is what it is. I think it's time we found out what exactly Richardson's business in Hawaii is." Steve looks over at Danny who nods at him.

"Time to go see some warehouses," Danny says.

"Yep," Steve nods back at him. He looks over at Chin and Kono. "Alright, let's get going then. We need to get over there before William Lincoln tells the operations in Hawaii that we're investigating. We don't want them to have the have a chance to cover anything up."

Chin and Kono both nod back, agreeing.

Steve pulls out his cell phone and walks away from the table. Danny can hear him talking to someone about getting a warrant. Danny's guessing that Steve is neglecting to mention his personal connection to this case.

While Steve's back is turned and he's distracted, Chin and Kono quietly approach Danny.

"So? Any news?" Chin asks.

Danny shoots a quick look in Steve's direction, before looking back at them. "Uh-uh," he shakes his head. "No dice. I would bet money that something happened, but she was seriously mad at him by the time I got there. She was barely speaking to him."

"Nice," Chin shakes his head ruefully.

Kono turns her head quickly from Danny to Chin then back again. "Really?" she scoffs. "You two are going to bust on McGarrett for relationship problems? Because neither of you has ever made a mistake when it came to the women in your life." Kono rolls her eyes at them and turns to walk away.

"Okay Surf Princess, what you're going to tell me you're perfect in that department?" Danny directs to Kono's retreating form.

"Oh believe me there are stories…." Chin's voice drops off as Kono turns around to smile at him mildly, simultaneously appearing friendly and menacing at the same time.

"Watch it cuz," she tells Chin quietly, still smiling.

Chin darts his eyes from Kono back to Danny. A smile falls on his face as well. He looks back at Danny. "Stories that I am not going to tell you, because I don't want her to hurt me," Chin laughs.

"Smart move," Kono nods at them, her smile widening, before turning away and walking toward her office.

"Ask me later," Chin whispers to Danny once Kono is out of earshot.

"Oh believe me I will." Danny laughs.

Steve walks back over to Chin and Danny. He is no longer on the phone. "And do you two have anything you want to share with the class?"

"Uh, nope, thanks teach. We're good." Danny smiles at him.

"Yeah, okay." Steve shakes his head, looking away from them then back again. "We're good to go. Can you get your gear please so we can hit the road?" He directs this last comment toward Danny. His tone of voice is short.

"Yes sir," Danny replies, turning around to get his vest and gun from his office.

Chin continues to stand there looking back at Steve. Steve looks at him a moment longer, then lets out a short laugh.

"Sorry man, it's been a rough morning." he's apologetic.

"Hey, it's okay. It's all good." Chin tells him with a smile. "I've been there too. You'll survive."

Steve laughs again. "Are you sure?"

"Yeah man, trust me."

Steve's eyes stay on Chin's face. "Thanks." They both turn to walk away.


	10. Chapter 10

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to all who are reading this story. I'd love to hear what you think of it, so please leave a **review. **Pretty, pretty, please. :)

* * *

><p>Steve is pulling the Camaro up behind a nondescript warehouse in an industrial park. This is the second stop they've made. The first location was a bust, just an empty unused building. He looks down at his phone to check the time. It's almost noon. He parks the car and waits for the phone to ring.<p>

"We going in?" Danny looks over at Steve and asks.

Danny has been a bit cautious in approaching Steve since they've left headquarters. Steve feels a little guilty about that, but only a little. It's not that he's actually that angry at Danny for interfering this morning with Emily. In truth, Danny probably saved him from a longer conversation that Steve would have preferred to avoid at that point. But just because he isn't actually mad, it doesn't mean that he has to let Danny know that. Besides, once again he's trying to concentrate on the case and ignore everything else.

It would just be nice if the case would start going somewhere useful. Today so far it hasn't been much. He can say that John Lincoln has been well taken care of. At the very least there should be no trouble with convicting Lincoln for attacking Emily. They have plenty of evidence, between the hotel security cameras and residue, of both Emily's blood and the mace she sprayed him with, on clothes found in Lincoln's apartment. Not to mention they have Lincoln's confession audio tape. But Steve would prefer that Emily not go back home before they know more about why she was targeted.

Steve attention is brought back to the present at the sound of his phone ringing. He picks it up and checks the number. It's Kono calling him.

"Hey, tell me you have something," he says, hopeful.

"Sorry to disappoint boss," Kono informs him, "this one is an empty too. Cleared out."

Steve exhales a sigh and looks sideways at Danny.

"No good?" Danny says.

Steve shakes his head. "No good."

Steve turns his attention back to the phone. "Okay, can you and Chin head in this direction in case we need you?"

"Okay, will do. We'll see you soon," she tells him.

"Yeah, bye," he replies then hangs up the phone.

Steve looks over at Danny, but Danny has his attention focused elsewhere. Steve turns his head to look at the object of Danny's gaze. It's a Richardson Importing truck. Steve is grateful that at least this warehouse is apparently in use.

Notice anything funny about that truck?" Danny says without taking his eyes off of it.

Steve looks at the truck, studying it for a minute, and then he looks back at Danny. "Yeah, you got me. I don't see it. What do you see?"

"Those guys appear to be in a big hurry to load it don't you think?"

Steve looks back at the loading dock. There are four men each with a hand truck dolly loaded with boxes. He watches as the men rush back and forth between the building and the truck. The boxes are clearly being moved out of the warehouse.

"Good point." Steve agrees with Danny. "Let's go see what has them running."

Danny and Steve get out of the car and approach the loading dock. The workers loading the truck cast a few glances in their direction. From the rapidity with which they are looking over at Steve and Danny then away again, Steve gets the impression they are nervous.

"Everybody freeze, 5-0," Steve shouts at the men loading the truck, holding up his badge. Danny is doing likewise.

The loading dock workers have mercifully frozen and do not appear to have any intention of giving them a hard time.

Danny and Steve reach the loading dock.

"Who's in charge here?" Steve asks.

The workers look back and forth at each other and then toward Steve again. Their eyes are wide and their stances are rigid with fear.

"Did you hear the man? Where's your boss?" Danny asks them impatiently.

Still there is no response. Just then someone exits the warehouse onto the loading dock. "Hey, what's going on out here? What part of do this quickly did you not…" the man's voice trails off as he turns to see what the dock employees are staring at, and discovers Danny and Steve.

Danny's head swivels toward Steve, his expression amused.

The man ordering around the other dock workers is an average height, slightly pudgy round the middle, balding, white guy. He's wearing a short sleeved button down shirt with sweat stains under the armpits, open at the collar. He didn't look particularly calm and collected before he'd noticed Danny and Steve. Now that his eyes are roving back and forth between their badges he looks downright scared.

Danny smirks up at the bewildered new comer. "What is it, you guys got a rush delivery of something? Is there some big party in danger of not having enough Merlot?"

Steve ignores Danny and directs his question to the apparent manager. "We're 5-0, are you in charge here?"

"Umm, yes, yes I am," the man stammers. "Henry Parker. Can I help you gentlemen with something?"

"Gentlemen?" Danny raises his eyebrow. "I'm impressed."

"So any reason you're in such a hurry to load this truck?" Steve asks.

"Well, uh, yes. Someone is coming to pick it up. We weren't given much notice. So yes we're in a hurry." As Henry Parker is answering Steve, he shifts his weight from his left to his right foot then back again.

This guy is too jumpy, there is something going on here, Steve thinks.

"Mind if we take a look?" Steve asks.

"What? In the boxes?" Parker looks confused.

"You got something else we should be looking in?" Danny smiles at Parker. Parker's gaze moves from Steve to Danny.

"Oh, uh, no. Don't think so." Parker manages to ask. "Can I ask what this is about?"

"You can ask." Steve replies without saying anything else.

Danny walks over to the loading dock and climbs up on to it. "Okay, all of you," he points to the guys with the dollys, "over there." He points to the side of the building, away from the truck and the boxes.

The workers do as they're told and move, eyeing Danny and Steve cautiously as they do so. Danny walks over to one of the stacks of boxes. He looks down at the top box, then over to Steve.

"I don't suppose you carry a box cutter on you?" Danny asks Steve with a dry smile. Steve cocks his head to the side, staring back at him for a moment. He reaches into a pocket of his vest and pulls out a pocket knife and flips open a large blade.

Danny looks away shaking his head. "Of course you do, how silly of me." Danny reaches down off the dock as Steve hands him the knife. He then proceeds to cut the tape off of the top box.

"Hey, that's private property!" Parker protests loudly.

Steve fixes the manager with a look. "Yes it is, which is why we have a warrant." He hands a piece of paper over to the manager who takes it, skimming his eyes over the document. The paper is shaking in Parker's hand.

"Well what a shock." Steve's attention is drawn back to Danny. "Look what I found," Danny says. He pulls something out of the box and holds it up so that Steve can see it. "Wine bottles," Danny tells him, his voice flat.

Steve keeps his eyes on Danny's without reacting for a good thirty seconds. He then looks down at the pavement beneath his feet.

Shit.

"Don't move," he hears Danny telling the workers on the dock.

He looks up as Danny is jumping down off the loading dock and striding over to him. He stops in front of Steve, his back to Parker and the workers, all of whom Steve can see are looking around and fidgeting. When he speaks, his voice is low enough that only Steve can hear him.

"What do you want to do? Open every box?" Danny asks.

Steve looks back at Danny considering, "Well, I'd really like to avoid that if at all possible. But I don't see what choice we have."

"Look," Danny's eyes are on Steve's face. "Maybe there isn't anything illegal going on here. Could there be anything else in that file of Emily's, that William and John Lincoln needed to scare her away from?"

"Danny come on, you saw the file." Steve gestures toward Danny with his hand. "It is just real estate purchasing paperwork. The addresses of these other warehouses were the only thing I could think they would want to get her away from."

Danny nods his head to the side a bit, appearing to concede Steve's point. Steve looks back at the truck, his eyes narrowing, and then he looks back at Danny. "Hold on," he says, pulling out his cell phone.

Steve hits Kono's number. The phone rings twice before she answers.

"Hey boss, we've almost reached you," she says.

"Okay, good. You have a camera with a decent long lens in the trunk right?" he asks her.

"Yeah, of course, what do you need?" she responds.

"Great. When you get here, find a place nearby to park the car. The manager here says they're expecting someone to pick up this delivery truck soon. I want photos of the person picking up the truck."

"Right, that make sense," she tells him. "We'll find a good place to sit and take pictures."

"Alright, let me know with your radio once you're in place."

"Sounds good boss, will do," she replies before hanging up phone.

Steve hangs up the phone and puts in the ear piece for his radio. Watching him Danny does likewise. Steve's eyes go back up to Henry Parker, still standing on the loading dock. In addition to his constant foot shifting, Henry is having a hard time keeping his eyes in one place. They keep jumping around, particularly toward the end of the parking lot where a car would enter or exit.

Steve looks back to Danny. "Yeah, I know this guy might be a little anxious because we're law enforcement, but this is way beyond that. I still think there's something going on here."

Steve turns again to look at the boxes. He stares for a moment his brow furrowing, then he looks back at Danny. "How long would you say that wine bottle you were holding was?"

Danny draws his eyes together. His tone of voice betrays confusion. "Length? Umm, I don't know, a foot or so?"

"And the bottles were sitting on the bottom of the box?" Steve is no longer watching Danny but is keeping his eyes on the occupants of the loading dock.

"Yeah, why?" Danny asks.

"No packing materials?" Steve is still watching the dock.

"No. What are you getting at Sherlock?"

Steve turns to Danny and gives him a faint smile. "Those boxes are not a foot deep, they're bigger."

Danny is giving Steve a look that says, get to the point.

"Check the box again. I think it has a false bottom," Steve tells him.

Danny's eyes widen with the realization and he nods his head. "Oh, very clever. We're dealing with clever people. Lucky us." Just as Danny turns toward the loading dock, the police radio in Steve's ear crackles to life. Kono's voice comes through it.

"Steve, we're in position. But you have a pickup truck with two passengers approaching the warehouse."

"Danny," Steve calls out. "Hold up a minute. Someone is driving up. Could be Mr. Parker's truck driver."

As Steve watches, Henry Parker visibly pales. He didn't think it was possible, but Parker actually looks even more frightened.

What could more scary than the cops? That can't be good.

As Danny and Steve watch, an extremely large black pickup truck enters the parking lot. Two men with dark hair are in the cab of the truck. The truck gets close enough and Steve can see the driver's face. He doesn't recognize the man, but he can see the expression on the driver's face change. Steve is guessing that he's registered the presence of law enforcement. Without warning the truck abruptly stops then changes direction quickly, reversing out of the parking lot.

Danny starts to run for the Camaro but Steve stops him yelling over to him. "Danny wait, we can't leave these boxes. Call for backup."

"I'm on it." Danny yells back.

Kono's voice comes through the radio. "Steve, we have the photos you need. Chin and I are in pursuit of that truck," Kono tells him.

Steve presses the button to talk to Kono. "Got it. Danny is calling for back up." Steve can hear the sound of screeching tires as Kono's car takes off after the pickup. He turns his attention back to Henry Parker on the loading dock. Parker is visibly shaking now. The dock workers don't look too calm themselves.

Steve eyes stay fixed on Henry Parker. Alright asshole, enough of this bullshit.

Danny's voice comes from behind him. "Was that the person coming to get this shipment? What's the matter, you think they didn't like us?" Danny directs his questions to Parker, sarcasm dripping from in his voice.

Danny has come back from the car and has reached Steve. "Could I have that knife?" Steve asks him.

"Absolutely," Danny smiles back, handing over the knife.

Steve takes the knife and walks over to the loading dock, jumping up onto it. He can hear the sound of police sirens approaching, presumably the backup Danny called.

Come on, please be something, he thinks.

With a last look at Parker, he focuses his attention on the box that Danny has already opened. He reaches into the box, and one by one, he takes out the wine bottles, setting them to the side on top of another stack of boxes. Once he empties the box, he taps the bottom. It does indeed feel like there is another compartment beneath. He takes the knife and cuts open the bottom of the box. Underneath the false box bottom are clear plastic bags each filled with a substance.

Steve looks back down at Danny. Danny raises his eyebrows and starts walking toward Steve. "Well?" Danny hoists himself up on to the loading dock. He walks over and looks inside the open box. He lets out a whistle. "Hello."

With his words, two police cruisers coming roaring into the parking lot.

Steve looks at Danny and smiles broadly. "Book em, Danno."

Danny nods back at Steve, "with pleasure." Danny walks toward Henry Parker. Parker starts shaking his head and whimpering. "Mr. Parker, you are under arrest for possession of Methamphetamines."

The dock workers take one look at Danny approaching Henry Parker with handcuffs and begin to scatter.

"Not so fast!" Steve yells at them, pulling out his gun. "Stay where you are." The dock worker's freeze, none have made it off the loading dock.

Steve looks down at the four HPD officers, moving quickly now, from their cruisers to the loading dock. Steve glances down at the officers. "Take them in, please." He gets four nods in return. The HPD officers pull themselves up onto the loading dock and start collecting the dock workers, placing them in handcuffs. Steve holsters his gun.

His cell phone begins to ring. He pulls it out and looks at it. Kono again. She must be out of radio distance by now. He answers the phone.

"What have you got?" he asks her.

"We didn't catch the pickup. We were in pursuit and HPD cruisers joined us, but they disappeared. HPD is still looking for it though."

Steve closes his eyes briefly and shakes his head.

"I do have some news though," Kono continues.

Steve opens his eyes. "Yeah?"

"I got a good picture of the driver and passenger in the pickup. I'm running their pictures through the system now."

Thank God for small favors.

"Good, that's something." Steve pauses. "Hey can you put Chin on the phone?"

"Sure," she tells him, and he hears the sound of the phone changing hands.

"What's up?" Chin asks.

"I need you to call back the people you talked to in L.A. this morning, the ones that brought in William Lincoln. Tell them that Lincoln and his company, Richardson Importing, are transporting Meth from California to Hawaii. We've got a shipment here, but they're going to want to move in on Richardson's operations out there fast before they disappear, if they haven't already."

"Okay, I'm on it," Chin says. Steve hears the sound of Kono's voice in the background but can't make out what she's saying. "Hold on Steve," Chin tells him.

Danny has come back after placing Henry Parker in the back of a third HPD cruiser. Steve looks at him while waiting for Chin to come back on the line. The parking lot is filling up with police cruisers arriving to secure the scene. "Officers from Vice are on their way," Danny informs him. Steve nods back. After a moment Chin's voice is on the phone.

"So the computer already came back with a hit on the facial recognition software. These guys were in the system. Long rap sheets. They are known to be associated with a gang that distributes Meth in Hawaii, but the gang also has ties to…"

The bottom of Steve's stomach drops out and he feels ill, knowing what Chin is going to say next.

"They have ties to the BaJa Cartel," Steve cuts him off, his voice sharp.

"Yeah, exactly. How did you know that?" Chin asks.

Danny is staring at Steve. His eyes are questioning. Steve stares back at him as he keeps talking to Chin on the phone.

"Because that is the cartel Emily was receiving death threats from, for prosecuting them when she was in San Diego." Steve can barely contain the anger in his voice.

Danny's eyes pop open wider. "Shit, really?"

Steve nods at him wordlessly. "Chin we can't leave here yet," Steve directs into the phone. "I know this might be a coincidence, but just in case..."

"Yeah, I got you. Kono and I will go pick her up from your place right now and take her back to headquarters," Chin tells him.

"Thanks man, I owe you," Steve tells him honestly.

"No problem brah. See you soon," Chin says.

"Okay, bye." Steve hangs up the phone.

Steve stares blankly at the hive of activity that has taken over the warehouse. His stomach is churning and he knows it won't stop till Chin and Kono have reached Emily.

"Steve?" Danny's voice reaches him.

He shakes his head with a start and looks back at Danny.

"The BaJa cartel doesn't send idiots like John Lincoln to carry out their hits. They probably have no idea she's connected to this," Danny tells him.

Steve is still looking at Danny. He struggles to swallow and nods his head slowly, but doesn't say anything.

Danny gives him a small smile back. He reaches out and claps him on the shoulder. "Time to go see what's inside?" he asks nodding his head in the direction of the warehouse.

"Yeah," Steve nods recovering. "Lets go."

Both men turn and start walking toward the building.

* * *

><p>Again, thank you, thank you for reading. Please let me know what you think in the reviews. :)<p> 


	11. Chapter 11

**DISCLAIMER:** I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to all who are reading this story. I'd love to hear what you think of it, so please leave a **review. **

* * *

><p>Emily is seated at the big wooden desk in Steve's home office. Her laptop is open in front of her. It is the first time she has touched it since the attack the day before yesterday. She has been trying, unsuccessfully, to read and respond to email. Her mind won't focus on anything. It keeps bouncing around - stabbing, hospital, a client with criminal activity, Jason, Steve – add that to at least one more cup of coffee than was advisable, the words useless would be most appropriate.<p>

She leans forward propping her elbows on the desk and places her face in the palms of her hands.

I really should just send a letter giving two weeks' notice, she tells herself. It's not like I'm going to set foot back in that office after this business with Richardson.

But part of her holds off, she wants to know more about the investigation into Richardson's activities before she does anything rash like quitting.

Yes absolutely Emily, go back to L.A., verify that your law firm had no knowledge of any illegal activities. Then you can keep your supposedly safe job pushing meaningless papers. Maybe you can even patch things up with Jason and live unhappily ever after. Meanwhile, Steve is out here in paradise, saving the world and actually helping people. Oh yeah, and he could care less if you stay with Jason.

Alright, maybe he's not literally saving the world, but he's pretty damn close from the looks of it, and certainly doing a hell of a lot more in that department than she is. And as for how he feels about her and what he actually wants, she has no idea what he wants right now.

He wants you to go back to Jason, Emily. It's pretty clear what he wants. He wants you to just go away.

She sits back in the chair, letting her hands drop to her lap. Her eyes automatically shift over to her cell phone, lying on the desk top.

Come on, ring damn it.

The phone, however, persists in remaining silent. Steve is out there with his team, investigating Richardson's warehouses, and yet he can't call and tell her anything?

I'm the one who got stabbed over those stupid warehouses. She glares at the phone.

It's still not ringing.

She jumps as the sound of a knock at the front door interrupts her brooding. Her heart starts racing. Maybe staying here today without an HPD babysitter was not such a good idea.

Emily stays frozen in her chair. She hears the sound of keys being turned in the lock and the door opening.

"Hello? Emily?"

Emily lets out a sigh of relief and rolls her eyes at her own over reaction. It's Kono's voice at the door calling her name.

Emily looks over at the door as it swings all the way open, revealing Kono.

"Hey, I'm here." Emily meets Kono's eyes expectantly as Kono walks into the house. Chin is following her. "What are you guys doing here?" Emily gets up from the chair and heads toward them, stopping in the living room. Kono and Chin are waiting in the entryway. "Is everything okay?" A spark of fear perks up within her.

Kono holds her hand up and waves it a bit. "No worries, everyone is fine. Steve and Danny are still back at one of the warehouses."

Emily's heartbeat slows down a bit. Her concern must have registered on her face because Kono gives her a reassuring smile.

Emily nods and bites her lip. She feels foolish that she keeps giving away her thoughts so easily. "Alright, so what's up? Did you guys find something? Please tell me you found something."

Chin and Kono both nod. "We found something." Chin tells her.

"And?" she keeps her eyes on them.

"It's meth. Richardson is shipping meth along with his wine bottles."

Emily's eyes widen and she shakes her head. "A rinky dink wine importer like Richardson? Come on..."

Chin cuts her off. "Yes, but that's exactly the point. Would you have expected anything like this from these guys?" He gestures to her with his hand for emphasis.

Emily's brain is spinning. How could she have been blind enough to miss what these guys were doing? Catching things like this used to be her job.

"So where are they getting this stuff? What are they doing with it when it gets here?" she asks.

"We don't know about what's going on in California. It appears that when the boxes get here, the drugs get transferred to a local distributor. A bad news group, big time," Chin answers her.

"But Richardson isn't making this stuff himself." Emily shakes her head.

"No…" Chin's voice trails off and his eyes move sideways to Kono, then back to Emily.

Emily's stomach clenches painfully. She closes her eyes to ward off a wave of nausea. "It's the Baja cartel isn't it?" Emily speaks without opening her eyes.

There's a silence in the room. Finally Kono answers her. "Yes, we're afraid so."

"But Emily," Chin speaks and Emily opens her eyes. "We've dealt with the cartel before. And I know that you have as well. They didn't order a hit on you. Because if they did…"

"If they did I'd be dead already." Emily looks back at him.

Chin's face is serious. "Exactly."

"So this is still Richardson just making sure I didn't uncover his operation?" she asks.

"Yes, we think so. But to be on the safe side we'd like to bring you into headquarters until your flight home," he tells her. She searches his face for some indication of how much danger she's really in, but his expression is neutral and sympathetic.

Emily is quiet, trying to sort through all of the information they've given her. Finally she nods her head, "Okay."

They are interrupted by the sound of a ringing cell phone. Emily registers with disappointment that it's not her ring tone. She's slightly mad at herself for wanting to hear Steve's voice right now. Chin reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. "Excuse me," he tells Emily before turning away. He walks out through the front door as he answers the phone.

Kono gives Emily a small smile. "You alright?"

Emily lets out an exaggerated sigh followed by a short laugh. She reaches up to scrub her eyes with her hands. When she drops them she meets Kono's gaze. "Yeah, I'll be fine. Just feel like an idiot for blindly walking into this. Guess I'm really off my game."

Kono shakes her head. "Hey, don't be too hard on yourself. Anyone could have missed this. Besides, I thought you wanted out of this game?" Kono asks.

"Yeah I thought I did too. But that was before someone decided to stab me. Now I don't know." She pauses before responding. "Was bringing me in to headquarters Steve's idea?"

Kono looks back at her and nods her head, "Yep, good guess."

Emily raises her hand to her neck and touches the bandage there. She places her palm against the gauze, letting her thumb run back and forth across the rough surface. "So much for running away and playing it safe." Anger boils up from the pit of her stomach. Suddenly she's had enough of being scared and running away.

"Give me a minute. I'll go get my stuff okay?" she tells Kono.

Kono nods back at her. "Sure, take your time," She gives Emily a smile.

Emily disappears down the hall to grab her bag.

* * *

><p>Chin's car is flying towards headquarters. Kono is seated in the passenger seat and Emily is in the rear.<p>

"So if you don't mind my asking," Chin catches Emily's eye in the rear view mirror before looking back at the road. "What happened in San Diego?"

Emily's head jerks up with a start. "Hmm, what… what was that?"

"You in San Diego, you ended up on the cartel's radar?" Chin asks. She checks the mirror again and can see his brows knit together in confusion.

"Oh…" The word draws out slowly as Emily sinks back into her seat. Right, he means the cartel stuff. Not anything about Steve.

Kono turns her head over her shoulder briefly and gives Emily a quick look. Okay, so Chin at least didn't mean anything about Steve.

Emily shakes her head. "It's not something terribly exciting or dramatic. I was just pretty successful at prosecuting some cases against their operations in San Diego, stuff that was in our jurisdiction to handle. They didn't like it, and that was it. Stop or we'll stop you."

"So you just left?" Chin asks.

From her position in the back seat Emily can still see the dirty look that Kono shoots over to Chin.

"It wasn't an easy choice, and I'm not saying I made the right choice." Emily is silent for a few seconds. "I was just tired of being scared and alone. And for the record, I wasn't sure what to do, until Steve _told_ me to take a job offer that I'd gotten from a friend in L.A."

"He told you to leave?" Kono is looking back at her again, her eyebrows raised.

Emily looks back at her. Finally the corner of her mouth ticks up. "Yep."

Kono lets out a low whistle turning around to face forward. "Wow, you must have been pissed."

Chin's head darts toward Kono's then up to the meet Emily's eyes in the rear view mirror. "Yes, but you know he was concerned for your safety right?"

"I do now." Emily answers him. "At the time he wasn't supposed to know about the death threats so I was a bit confused."

Kono is giving Chin a dirty look. He looks back at her. "What? I didn't do anything."

She just shakes her head. "Just thinking how much you and McGarrett have in common."

"Alright, yes, but you have to concede that I eventually fixed it."

She nods her head at him, "Eventually you did, yes."

Emily can't help but smile. She's enjoying Kono picking on Chin. "What am I missing here?" Emily laughs.

Chin lets out a sigh and Kono laughs. "Chin here just took a very long and _winding_ route to the altar. Why poor Malia put up with you is a mystery." Kono is smiling at him.

"Your wife?" Emily asks. She can see Chin nod his head.

"Hey, I'm not going to argue with you. I'm a lucky guy that she did put up with me." Chin looks up at Emily in the rear view again. "Don't count McGarrett out yet, okay Emily?"

Emily can feel her face flush bright red. "What…?" She narrows her eyes. "Danny told you I was mad at him."

Kono and Chin both laugh. "Sorry," Kono looks back at her apologetically. "We're a small group. Word travels fast."

"If it helps at all, I can offer to kick his ass for you." Chin adds.

"Thanks, I'll take that under consideration." Emily tells him, amusement in her voice.

"What did he do?" Kono is looking back at Emily again.

Emily chews on the inside or her lip and looks back at Kono. She flicks her eyes away out the window, then back to Kono's face. "He told me that maybe I shouldn't break up with my boyfriend Jason." Emily's voice is quiet.

"What? Why the hell would he say that?" Kono's voice is not quiet. "Steve is in love with you."

"Kono…!" Chin is giving her a look.

"Oh come on," Kono looks back at Chin. "He is… you know he is."

"I know that, but that doesn't make it any of your business," Chin reminds Kono. "Emily, just for the record…" he pauses and looks over at Kono. She furrows her brow and cocks her head to the side looking back at him. Chin sighs and shakes his head. "Just for the record, I sincerely hope you ignore what Steve said this morning."

Emily can see Chin dart another look over to Kono whose features have softened a bit now. "Hey, we have to work with the guy. I have ulterior motives for wanting him to be happy."

Emily leans her head against the seat back of the car, turning her gaze out the window. She watches the scenery rushing by and tries to shut off the whirring that has become her brain, as they continue to their destination.

* * *

><p>From her spot at the work table in the center of 5-0 headquarters, Emily can see Chin talking on the phone. Judging by his level of animation it must be a fairly interesting conversation. She glances down at her watch, less than two hours till she should catch a taxi to the airport. Her gaze reflexively goes to the glass doors at the entrance to 5-0's area. She's been trying to not think about what she'll do if the time comes and Steve isn't back yet. After a moment she shifts her gaze sideways to Kono. Kono is watching her, the corner of her mouth turned up slightly. Presumably Kono has noticed Emily's obsession with the entrance. Emily shakes her head and tries to focus back on her lap top, but the screen blurs before her eyes.<p>

"Don't worry. He'll be back," Kono tells her.

Emily shoots Kono a quick look, before turning back to the computer. "Maybe I shouldn't fly home today."

Kono shakes her head. "If there's any danger of the cartel finding out about your involvement in this bust, it would be better if they don't know where you are. Right now they're going to think you're in Hawaii. It would be better if you left to confuse them." Seeing Emily's crestfallen expression she quickly adds. "You can come back as soon as this settles. At least I hope you'll be coming back."

Emily looks back at her and raises one eyebrow. "We'll have to see about that. As the magic 8 ball would say, outlook not so good."

Kono is silent, her head tilted to the side, watching Emily. Before she can speak, Chin comes out of his office and walks toward Emily and Kono.

"So that was L.A. on the phone, there are some investigators out there who would love to talk to you," Chin directs this comment to Emily.

Emily's eyes widen and she sits up straighter in her chair. "Wait, they don't think that I…" She points to her chest with her right forefinger.

Chin is shaking his head before she finishes. "No, they can see that you haven't been involved with Richardson long enough to know much about his business. But they would like to talk to your colleague that was handling everything, the one you thought had a family emergency. Unfortunately they are having a hard time locating him."

"Hmm, that's ominous sounding." Emily thinks her voice betrays her nerves.

Chin shrugs, "Maybe, or maybe not, the guy could just somewhere without cell service."

"The good news, if there is any, is that William Lincoln has had a change of heart, and is cooperating with the investigation."

"Really?" Kono sounds surprised.

"Yeah, it's amazing how quickly he forgot his lawyer when it came to asking for police protection from the cartel." Chin stops speaking for a moment, just looking at Emily. "Apparently Lincoln did recognize you from your job in San Diego, found out about your history with the cartel. He thought that you were on to Richardson's importing scheme. That's why he ordered the attack."

Emily lets out a snort and narrows her eyes. "I wish I could say that I had figured out what they were doing. If I had, I wouldn't have been carrying mace. I would've been carrying a gun," she tells them with a rueful shake of the head.

"What McGarrett never taught you to shoot?" Chin asks her.

"He offered to teach me," Emily responds. She looks down at the work table, away from Chin. "Somehow we just never got around to it." The sound of the glass doors opening reaches Emily and she looks up to see Steve and Danny walking through them.

Kono and Chin look over at Steve and Danny as well. Kono swivels her head quickly from Steve back to Emily. A wide smile fixes on Kono's face as she watches Emily. "Hey if you ever want to learn to shoot, I'd be happy to teach you." Kono tells Emily before looking back at Steve with a smirk.

"Shoot, why are you teaching her to shoot?" Steve's eyebrows have narrowed as he continues to walk toward the work table. He doesn't appear to be happy about this plan.

Emily looks back at him for a moment. Finally she turns back to Kono with a smile. "Thank you Kono, I'd love to take you up on that someday."

The furrow in Steve's brow deepens and he crosses his arms across his chest. "If anyone is going to teach you to shoot it's me."

Emily raises one eyebrow at him. "Maybe Jason should teach me," she tells him dryly.

Steve just stares back at her. Finally a small look of amusement lands on his face. He nods his head and breaks his gaze looking away from her then back again. "Does Jason even own a gun? Because I'm betting he doesn't."

"I don't think you want her armed right now Steven." Emily can hear Danny say under his breath.

Steve shoots Danny a look before turning back to Chin and Kono. "Alright, so what have we got?"

Chin gives Steve and Danny a synopsis of what he's been told from L.A. Steve's eyes widen in surprise at the revelation that William Lincoln has confessed and is cooperating.

"The investigators in L.A. would like Emily back there to talk to them as soon as possible," Chin finishes up by telling Steve.

Steve nods at Chin and then turns to meet Emily's eyes. Her stomach does a flip flop from the way he's looking at her. His mouth ticks up a bit at the corner, conveying both warmth and sadness at the same time.

Damn it, what if Kono is right and he does love her? Why in hell would he tell her to stay with Jason? And why does he have to be watching her like that right now?

"Yeah, but you'll be back to testify against John Lincoln for attacking you, right Emily?" Danny interrupts Emily's thoughts. She can feel her face redden yet again. Steve jerks his head as if he realizes how he was watching her, suddenly pointedly not meeting her eyes.

"Where are we with those guys that drove away from the warehouse?" Steve looks back to Kono and Chin.

Kono shakes her head at Steve. "We know that they're members of the one of the gangs that distributes meth on the island. We sent some HPD units over to their last known address, but it was empty."

"Okay," Steve tells her. "Keep digging and let me know what you get. If they cleaned out the other two warehouses this morning, they could have product to move. Either way I want to bring them in for questioning."

Kono nods her head that she understands. "I'll keep at it boss."

Steve looks back at Emily, "How much time have you got?"

She checks her watch. "An hour and fifteen minutes or so." She looks back up at him and tries to maintain a neutral expression.

The sound of a phone ringing can be heard from Steve's office. His eyes dart toward his office then back to Emily. "Sorry, gotta get that."

"Yeah, of course, go." She waves her hand and manages a small smile this time. Steve gives her a short smile back and turns to jog toward his office. Her stomach has stopped flipping and has moved on to outright pain as she watches him go.

When she looks up, she realizes that Kono, Chin and Danny are all looking at her. She moves her eyes across all their faces before looking back down at her lap top. She shuts the computer and looks over at Kono. "So is there anything I can help you with in the research department?"

"Absolutely," Kono tells her. "Over here." Emily rises from her chair and follows Kono to the digital display table. As she follows, she steals a last glance at Steve, seated at the desk in his office. She turns back to watch Kono's retreating form.

Stabbing, hospital, a client with criminal activity, Jason, Steve – she gives her head a quick shake and exhales a deep breath. Totally useless.

* * *

><p>Again, thanks for reading. Please leave a <strong>review.<strong>


	12. Chapter 12

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Much thanks to all who are reading this story. I'd love to hear what you think of it, so please leave a review.

msgemgem - Thanks again for your review. Let me try to answer a few of your questions. I don't think the stabbing is really related to when she left San Diego three years ago. It was just bad luck that her current clients assumed since she had been a drug prosecutor that she was in Hawaii because she was onto them. I agree, I don't want Emily to hang around and wait for Steve. And I also do want her to tell Jason how she feels, just not over the phone. Sorry, the I'm getting a gun bit didn't play how I intended it to. No worries she's not actually getting a gun. Kono's just offering to teach her to annoy Steve. Again, she's not really helping with the case, she's got a plane to catch. But also they're not investigating her stabbing at this point. They're investigating what happened to the drugs after they left Richardson's warehouse. Also, I'm not in any way familiar with police procedure in this area, so I readily confess that there may be errors in my story. Apologies in advance, they're not intentional.

Anyway, here's the next part of the story. Hope you like it.

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><p>Steve is seated in his office and is trying to concentrate on a phone call from investigators in L.A. The current subject of their conversation is the shutting down of Richardson Wine Importing's operations in California. Unfortunately he is having a hard time concentrating, as he hasn't been able to stop himself from checking the time every few minutes. It is rapidly approaching the point at which Emily will need to catch a ride to the airport.<p>

He focuses back on the phone call. The ridiculous part of this investigation is that if William Lincoln hadn't panicked and ordered his nephew John to attack Emily and steal her files, the meth importation would probably not have been uncovered. Now in an attempt to protect their illegal activities, they've managed to pull law enforcement from both California and Hawaii onto their trail. Shutting down the importation has not proved difficult. Making the connections to the cartel that is supplying the product, that's a different story.

Steve is not thrilled about the L.A. authorities' obvious intentions to drag Emily back into the business of stopping, or more realistically slowing down, the cartel. Still though, he's pretty sure she's not going to give him a say in whether she decides to get involved.

With a couple of final assurances that he will pass along any information that would be relevant to their investigation, Steve finally succeeds in hanging up the phone.

He glances out into the main work area. Emily has maneuvered herself so that she is sitting with her back towards him. He couldn't catch her eye even if wanted to.

And does he want to? Exactly how much of a conversation is he going to have with her here in his office, with the rest of the team out there watching? He checks the time again. It is steadily ticking away.

He wants to tell her that she deserves a normal, stable life, something he can't give her right now. If Jason can…

But what if she doesn't love Jason? What if she loves you?

And how do you feel about her exactly?

Steve shuts his eyes and reaches up with one hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. It's an attempt to relieve the tension in his head. It's not working.

No, forget it. I'm just the road not taken, a what if. If he lets her go, she'll get over it. How he feels about her is irrelevant.

Steve looks out into the work area to see Kono and Danny huddled in conversation. They are each alternately shooting Steve furtive glances, darting their eyes quickly toward Steve and then away again.

With an inward groan he hopes they are talking about work and not his love life, but judging by the way they're acting, he doubts it.

Steve looks away from them and back toward Emily.

Stay away from her Steven. If you go out there, you're going to talk to her. If you talk to her, she's going to give you one of those looks that makes your resolution cave in on itself.

Without meaning to, he stares off into space and images flash through his mind. Emily in the hospital bed, small and fragile, blinking back at him. Emily sitting by the water back at his house, smiling. Emily in his lap, the feel of her mouth against his as they kissed.

His stomach tightens at the memory. Stay in this damn office, for the love of God, stay in this office.

But once his mind is going, it doesn't want to stop. Emily lying next to him in bed when he woke up this morning, staring at the curve of her neck, unable to stop himself from curling up against her back with his arm draped over her side, the flat of her stomach under his hand.

He remembers the warmth of her body against his. Yet he wasn't able to stop worrying that she'd be better off with someone else. He couldn't quiet the fear that he'd get attached to her again, and he'd eventually lose her. And if that was going to be the case, he'd be better off if he stopped now and didn't start anything.

Okay, forget staying in the office, he's wondering if maybe he'd be better off leaving the whole building right now.

Steve shakes his head to try and clear it, and then glances out into the work area. This time Danny looks up and catches his eye. Danny starts toward Steve's office, but Kono stops him with a hand on his arm. She leans in and says something, and he nods at her in return. Danny shoots a last look at Steve before turning away toward the work table. Kono continues the walk towards Steve's office.

Steve groans, please let her want to discuss something work related. He turns his attention back to his desk, shuffling around papers to appear as if he is actually been doing something.

His office door opens and Kono enters, giving him a small smile. He looks up at her and tries to sound casual. "Hey, what's up?"

Her eyes fix on his and she shakes her head slightly. "Not too much to report. Was that L.A. on the phone?"

He nods back at her. "Yes it was. The DEA is moving in to take over this whole thing. They just want assurances that we'll share any information we find relating to the Baja cartel."

"And they want to talk to Emily?" Kono asks him.

"Yes, of course. I've tried explaining that we think her stabbing was because Lincoln thought she was investigating their operations. Not that she actually was investigating anything. But unsurprisingly they want to verify that for themselves. The DEA's office knows Emily from her work in San Diego so…" his voice trails off.

"And you'd be happier if they kept her out of it." Kono gives him a pointed look.

Steve chuckles a little and looks back at her. "Yeah, something like that, but that's impossible unfortunately."

There is silence in the room for a moment. "So are you going to talk to her?"

Steve stares at the desk. "About?"

Kono doesn't say anything but waits for Steve to lift his head and meet her eyes. She raises her eyebrows and cocks her head to the side.

He rolls his eyes and shakes his head. "What? Did you and Danny toss a coin or something?"

She laughs, "Look, we're not trying to pry."

Yeah right. This time it's Steve's turn to raise an eyebrow.

"Okay, we're not trying to pry too much." Kono's mouth is turned up slightly at the corner. "Well, I'm not. I can't speak for Danny though."

Steve watches Kono's face. Her expression reads concerned, not harassing. "So you're hiding?" she asks him.

Steve's eyes dart away from Kono. "I'm not hiding." Even he isn't convinced by the tone in his voice.

"Really?" Her tone is disbelieving.

He laughs, "Maybe a little."

She just stares at Steve, still giving him a slight smile.

After a moment he responds quietly. "Maybe I should just let her go."

"What? Without saying anything?" She gives Steve a quizzical look.

He looks back at her. "What would I say?"

Kono doesn't respond, but she gives him a look that clearly says, _oh come on_.

"She'll be better off," he tells her.

"Without you? Why?"

Steve lets out a grunt of exasperation. "You know what my life is like. Hell, I can barely keep Danny speaking to me half the time." He waves his hand around and gestures out toward Danny in the work area for emphasis.

Kono laughs, "You have a point there." She looks out the window then back at Steve. "But Steve, you don't have to decide what she should do or if she'd be better off. That's up to her. You only have to figure what you want and tell her. It's not the same thing you know."

He stares back at Kono without speaking. It feels like his throat has closed up and he nods at her. With a last smile, Kono turns and leaves his office. After she's gone his eyes sweep over to check the time. Almost gone.

He looks back out of his office and Danny is watching him with his arms folded across his chest, clearly not happy. When Danny realizes that he has garnered Steve's attention he juts his neck forward and throws his hands up in the universal, _what the hell_, gesture. His eyes are bulging as he does this.

Steve's eyes shift from Danny back to Emily. With a start he notices that she's gotten up from her chair and is simultaneously packing away her lap top with one hand, while using her other hand to hold her cell phone to her ear.

Damn it, he would bet money she's on the phone with a taxi company. Out of time. Swearing under his breath, Steve rises from his chair and exits his office. He's just in time to hear Emily speaking to Kono who has approached her.

"No, no. I'm fine. You guys are busy and I don't want to interrupt." Emily is telling Kono while shaking her head back and forth. "I've called a cab already."

Steve's chest tightens and he's lost for words. Kono has looked up over Emily's shoulder and catches Steve's eyes. Emily must have noticed Kono's attention change, because she turns her head quickly over her shoulder. Her attention lands on Steve. She gives him a weak smile.

"Looks like it's time for me to get going," she tells him, her eyes on his face.

The pain is his chest is suddenly worse. "Oh, right yeah. Guess I didn't notice the time," he lies. "I'm sorry I can't get away to drive you."

Emily has gone back to packing up her lap top bag. She shoots a quick look at Steve before turning back to what she's doing. "No big deal. It's been quite a day I know. I'm sure I can make it to the airport without a problem."

He starts speaking in a rush. "Someone will be in touch to discuss when you'll need to come back. If you even need to. Depends on what the prosecution decides in handling your case." He's trying to keep his voice even but it's proving difficult.

"Okay." She nods at Steve with a quick glance then crosses the room to collect her suitcase from a corner. When she comes back she turns toward Kono. Danny and Chin have moved to stand nearby as well.

"I can't begin to thank you guys enough, really," she tells them with a wavering voice.

Kono gives her a warm smile back. "Hey, no problem. We're just happy you're okay. It was nice to meet you." Kono steps forward to give Emily a hug, which Emily returns. "Come back some time, even if they don't need you here in person to prosecute John Lincoln. My offer to teach you to shoot still stands." Steve notices how Kono's eyes flick briefly to Steve, her eyes narrowed, as she says this. Steve exhales a breath and looks away from Kono, clenching his jaw.

"Yeah, what she said. Don't be a stranger." Danny chimes in, giving Emily a smile. Danny's eyes also shift from Emily's face back to Steve. As Danny's gaze moves to Steve a clear look of irritation has settled in. Emily appears not to notice as she's gathering her stuff and turning away.

Steve looks away from Danny over to Chin. Chin only raises his eyebrows slightly and gives him a sympathetic smile. Steve tries to smile back, but between the pain in his chest and the lump in his throat it isn't easy.

Emily has all of her things together, and is now standing facing Steve. "I guess this is it." She's looking at him and her eyes are sad. He can't help it, he feels like garbage right now.

He notices that the rest of his team have moved away to the work table, in attempt to give them some space. Steve nods his head at Emily and swallows, trying to clear his throat enough to talk. His eyes dart away from her face then back again. "Let me walk you out, okay?"

Her eyes start to shine a bit and she bites her lip. "No, if it's all the same to you. I'd rather not, okay? I can find my way out."

His heart feels like it has just cracked in half. He keeps his eyes on her face, silent. There it is Steve, she's hurt, you're hurt, fantastic.

He nods at her. "Okay," he answers quietly.

She looks up at him and tries to give him a smile. Her bottom lip trembles a bit as she does so. Steve's eyes widen and he steps forward to give her a hug. As he embraces her, she keeps her body stiff under his arms and only squeezes him briefly before pulling away. With a last look at his face, she grabs her bags, turns toward the exit and starts walking.

Steve's eyes stay on her retreating form. Out of the corner of his eye he catches movement. He looks over to see Kono. She gives Steve a quick look as she jogs after Emily toward the exit. Steve gives Kono a quick nod of gratitude.

"Emily, wait up. Let me at least carry your suitcase, alright?" Kono catches up with Emily just at the doors to exit 5-0 headquarters. Steve doesn't get a look at Emily's face. She doesn't turn around. But he can see her give Kono a nod, and lets her grab the bag. They both exit through the doors.

Steve stands frozen for a moment, still staring at the empty doorway. Finally he turns back toward his office. Without meeting either Chin or Danny's eyes, even though he can feel them watching him, he escapes into his office letting the door close behind him.

* * *

><p>Emily has successfully made her way out of the building where 5-0's headquarters is housed. Kono is following close behind. Waiting at the curb is a taxi. Emily's heart is pounding heavily, leaving a thudding sound in her ears. She keeps telling herself that she will not break down under any circumstances, but particularly not in front of a member of Steve's team. It doesn't matter how much she likes Kono, she doesn't want there to be any way her current state could get back to him.<p>

Emily walks up to the driver's side window of the taxi and the driver looks up at her. "Airport?" she asks him.

The driver nods at her and opens his door to get out. He takes Emily's bag from where Kono has placed it on the pavement and walks to the back of the car to load it in the trunk. Emily watches him complete this task, before turning back toward Kono. She tries to give her a smile that is relaxed and unaffected.

Just keep thinking of how good it will feel to be home, she tells herself. Back to her apartment, turning off the phone and crawling into bed, pulling the covers up over her head, and sleeping for days. Screw everything else.

Nope, not working. She still feels lousy.

Kono is watching her but her expression is hard to read.

"Well," Emily smiles at her. "Looks like this time it's actually goodbye." She lets out a nervous laugh. As she speaks, she opens the taxi's back door. "Thanks for being my chauffer. Now you can get back to your actual job."

Kono nods at her. "Anytime. We'll see you soon, okay?"

Emily stops and stares, half in, half out of the car. Her eyes land on Kono's face. Finally she manages a nod, "Yeah, maybe." She pulls her eyes away and sinks down into the seat of the car, shutting the door. She gives Kono a small wave as the car pulls out, trying to ignore that she can now read Kono's expression, and it isn't happy.

The taxi reaches the edge of the property and turns out onto the street. Emily inhales and exhales a breath. It shudders and rattles painfully in her chest. As the car picks up steam and moves away, she closes her eyes, tips her head back against the seat, and releases her tears, letting them run down her face.

* * *

><p>Danny Williams is standing in front of the work table in the center of 5-0 headquarters. He and Chin are currently trying to gather information on the two gang members that were seen leaving Richardson's warehouse earlier in the day. Trying being the operative word, there isn't much to go on. It isn't helping that he keeps shooting glances over to Steve, seated at his desk in his office.<p>

"Stubborn idiot," he mutters under his breath.

Chin laughs and Danny looks up at him. "Give him five more minutes," Chin tells Danny.

Danny looks back at him. His eyes narrow in confusion. "Five minutes and then what? I'm not going in there." He taps his own chest with his forefinger. "I want to live."

Chin shakes his head and glances over at Steve, who is still seated at his desk and staring at some paperwork in his hand. "He'll get to her before she gets on the plane." Chin looks back at Danny.

Danny cocks his head to the side and smirks back at Chin. "Really?"

Chin nods at him confidently. "He will."

Danny leans back and folds his arms across chest. "Care to put your money where your mouth is?" Danny raises his eyebrows.

Chin stares back at Danny for a beat before his smile widens. He shoots another quick look over at Steve. He doesn't appear to be paying them any attention. Chin reaches into his pocket, and retrieves his wallet. He pulls out a five dollar bill and places it on the table. He taps his watch with his finger. "Five minutes."

Danny lets out a snort and tosses his head. He reaches into his own wallet and pulls out a bill as well. He places it on the table over Chin's. He looks Chin in the eye and shakes his head. "Too stubborn."

Danny looks up and realizes that Kono has come back into headquarters and has approached the work table. She shifts her eyes from Danny to Chin with suspicion. "What are you two doing?"

Chin has the good grace to look down at the table, embarrassed. Danny, however, has no such compunction. He smiles back at Kono. "Chin here thinks McGarrett will be out the door and going after Emily in," he checks his watch, "oh, four minutes now. I however have maintained that Captain America in there" he gestures toward Steve with one hand, "is too stubborn and is not going to leave his office."

Kono watches Danny. She turns her head to one side slightly and looks over at Steve, then turns back to Chin and Danny. The corner of her mouth quirks up. Finally she reaches into her pocket and pulls out a crumpled five dollar bill which she places on the table. "Less than four minutes."

Chin laughs, still watching the work table and Danny nods his head. "Uh-huh, alright. We'll see. I hope one of you is right," Danny tells them.

Kono is back to punching information into the work table. "Yeah, me too," she says without looking up.

The group continues to work in silence.

Three minutes later the door to Steve's office flies open, and he rushes out. Danny's head jerks up to stare at him in surprise. Chin and Kono have abruptly stopped working and are watching him as well. Chin smiles.

Steve freezes and looks back at them. "I, uh…" he stumbles for words. His eyes roam across each of their faces. "I have to go out for a few minutes," he manages to say.

"Umm, okay." Danny tosses a look at Chin who glances back at him sideways out of the corner of his eye. "We'll be here."

Steve is still standing stock still, looking back at them. Eventually he nods, "Okay, good." He pauses a beat longer without moving, then nods again and turns to walk to the doors.

"Do you have your keys?" Danny calls after him.

Steve stops and turns around to look at Danny. "Huh? What?"

"You seem a bit flustered." Danny smirks at him. "Just making sure you didn't forget anything."

"I am not…." Steve exhales a breath with a growl and rolls his eyes at Danny. "Good bye Danny." He turns and continues toward the exit.

"Good luck." Danny calls after him in a sing song voice.

Once the doors have closed behind Steve, Danny looks up at Chin and Kono who are watching him. "What?"

Chin just shakes his head. "You are not nice, man. Really."

Danny laughs, "Me, I'm very nice. I have no idea what you're talking about."

Danny looks down at the money then pointedly up at Kono. She grins at him, before reaching for the cash and stuffing it into the pocket of her jeans. Danny just shakes his head at her in return.

"And you guys are accusing me of not being nice," he says under his breath.


	13. Chapter 13

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Thank you, thank you to all who have left a review! Your encouragement really helps me. Also a big thanks to all who have read this story. I've had fun writing it. Hope everyone likes this chapter. Finally getting somewhere.

As always, please leave a **review**. :)

* * *

><p>The Camaro is zipping back and forth, in and out of traffic, as Steve retraces what he hopes is the most obvious route to the airport. He says a silent prayer that he doesn't get himself pulled over. He's been tempted several times to flip on his lights and siren, but technically speaking, this is definitely not a police emergency. Of course even if he got pulled over he wouldn't end up with a ticket. But he'd rather word about the reason for his current disregard for traffic safety laws not get around.<p>

He'd been sitting in his office minutes after Emily had left, staring morosely into space, when the reality of the last few days hit him full force. Less than forty-eight hours ago she had almost died. By the looks of the amount of blood at the scene, she very nearly did die. With what felt like a blow to the chest that knocked the wind out of him, he realized how close he'd come to never seeing her again. And how had he chosen to appreciate the fact that she was still alive and able to talk to him? By letting her leave for the airport while she was still mad at him, damn it. His insides clench again painfully at the memory.

He is startled by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He hits the button on his steering wheel to answer the phone and Danny's voice comes through the speakers.

"Hey, I have the coordinates of that cell phone you asked us to track," Danny tells him.

Steve shakes his head in confusion. "What… what cell phone? Danny I'm kind of in the middle of something right now."

"Yes… I know." Danny draws out this statement slowly and puts emphasis on each word. "You needed to ask Emily one more question for the case before she gets on the plane, right?"

"Huh? What question?" Steve is still too distracted by driving to follow Danny's obtuse train of thought.

"Steve!" Danny's voice has grown exasperated. "I don't know, but I'm sure you will think of something. Do you want these cell phone coordinates or not for Christ's sake?"

Steve is silent for a good thirty seconds before giving a short laugh and replying. "I…. yeah I do….Thanks Danny."

"You're welcome. Her taxi is out on the Freeway, near exit 20. Kono wrote down plate number ETP-793. And Steve…"

"Yeah?"

"You have my permission to turn on the lights," Danny tells him.

Steve gives a short laugh. "Well okay, thanks Dad."

"Uh-huh, good luck." Danny replies. "Bye."

"Yeah, bye." The phone line goes dead. Steve hesitates for a brief moment before reaching out to flip on the lights and the siren, and then pushing the speedometer up into the stratosphere.

He finally reaches the location where Danny had tracked Emily's phone and starts scanning the road ahead for the taxi. The road is a multi-lane freeway with a barrier median. He is grateful that Danny has talked him into turning on the siren, as it is causing all of the cars in front of him to move out of the way. At last he spots the taxi up ahead.

Great Steve, now what the hell are you going to do?

The taxi is directly ahead of him now and Steve is approaching it quickly. It starts to slide over onto the shoulder to let him pass.

Well, in for a penny, in for a pound. Steve keeps following the taxi and it finally rolls to a stop on the shoulder.

His heart lurches in his chest. He gets out of his car and starts walking toward the taxi. As he's watching the driver's side window rolls down. Cars are zooming by on Steve's left side at an uncomfortable rate of speed and he takes care to stay well away from the lane.

What the hell is he going to say now? To either of them?

His problem is solved when the rear passenger side door of the car shoots open and Emily gets out, whirling around to face him.

"Steve? What's wrong? What's going on?" Her face is drawn and pale. Her voice is shaking. She sounds terrified.

Great, you scared her, nice move.

The driver's side door opens and the taxi driver exits the car. His eyes keep shifting from Emily to Steve and then back again. From the way he's watching Steve, he must be wondering how exactly this guy pulled him over.

"Is everything okay here?" the driver asks. "Miss, are you alright?" He looks over at Emily.

She doesn't answer right away. Her eyes are still on Steve's face and it hits him that she's been crying.

"Miss?" the driver tries again. "Do you know this guy?" The driver's voice registers somewhere between perturbed and scared.

This time Emily's head jerks to look over at the driver. "I, uh…." She looks back toward Steve quickly, before turning back to the driver again. "Yes, it's okay. We know each other."

She's staring at Steve now. He meanwhile is trying desperately to reclaim the power of speech but so far is failing.

"I just need my things from the trunk," Emily tells the driver.

The taxi driver is eyeing Steve, as if weighing his obligation to protect his passenger from an obviously deranged nut job, versus the desire to take the girl at her word, leaving her and running.

Steve can almost hear the driver sigh audibly before he makes his way around to the front of the car and back to Emily, still standing near the rear passenger side door. He regards Steve warily the whole trip. When the driver reaches Emily he starts speaking in a low voice. "Miss, do you need me to call the police for you? If he's threatening you in any way… you don't need to go with this guy."

Emily's eyes have not left Steve's face. The driver's eyes keep darting sideways to Steve before returning to Emily. There is a long silence while the driver waits for her answer.

When she finally speaks, her voice is calm and quiet, but loud enough for Steve to hear her. She shakes her head slightly. "No it's okay. I'm safe with him."

At last she turns her head to look at the driver. Her voice has returned to a normal volume. "I'm fine really. He can drive me the rest of the way."

The driver continues to watch Steve while Emily reaches into the car for her purse. When she stands upright again, she pulls out some bills, a generous amount from what Steve can see, and hands the cash to the driver. "Thank you for your trouble." She gives the driver a small smile. The driver looks down at the cash in his hand then back at Emily's face. At last he rolls his eyes and shakes his head, but he turns to walk back around the front of the car. When he reaches the driver's side, he leans in and pulls the trunk release.

Emily walks toward the back of the car and stops next to the open trunk. She looks over at Steve. Her expression is approaching neutral, neither happy nor sad.

Right her stuff, need to get her stuff, focus.

Steve breaks her eye contact and walks toward the taxi. He takes out her bags and closes the trunk. He can see the taxi driver give one last look over his shoulder at them, before giving his head a shake and pulling out onto the freeway.

They are left standing alone by the side of the road with the cars passing by. Emily has gone back to staring at him silently.

"I, umm…" He stops speaking. She walks toward the passenger side door, brushing past him. He looks down at the road and lets out a puff of breath. "Yeah." He grabs her bags and loads them into the car. When he's finished he walks to the front of the car on the passenger side. Emily is still standing next to the door, but hasn't opened it to get in. She looks back at him, meeting his eyes. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you," he tells her.

She doesn't answer right away. Instead she bites her lower lip and looks down, nodding her head. "Okay."

"I just couldn't… I didn't want to leave things like that, the way I did."

"Can we get in the car? I don't want to do this by the side of the freeway." She manages to look back at him and give a slight smile.

Jesus, did she just try to smile at him? A small measure of relief touches the pain that's been gripping him, and it eases a little.

Steve stares at her for second, and then nods a little. "Yeah, I'm sorry about that, the umm…. pulling you over thing."

She wrinkles her nose as she looks at him. "Guess I should have let you walk me out, huh?"

Steve laughs under his breath. "Yes, that would have been good for starters." Emily opens the car door and gets in. Steve walks around the front of the car to the driver's side door.

Once he is seated in the car he looks over at her. Her eyebrows are narrowed. "You pulled me over?"

"Didn't we just cover this?" He tries to adopt an apologetic expression. She's looking at him with her head cocked at an angle. "Danny gave me permission," he tells her cautiously.

She raises an eyebrow. "Oh, did he?"

"Yeah sure, well…. he did, sort of." He's trying to smile at her, but her expression isn't helping.

She looks at him silently. Her eyes flick out to the road for a few seconds then to Steve's face again. "And if Danny gave you permission to jump off a building?" Steve's smile widens. The corner of Emily's mouth turns up slightly. "Wait, you know what… don't answer that."

Steve looks away from her and starts the car. He puts it in drive and pulls carefully onto the road. They drive toward the airport in silence. Emily has glanced over at Steve a few times, but turns away to look out the window whenever he has attempted to catch her eye.

Before they reach the exit for the airport Steve turns off the road. In a few minutes they have reached a parking lot that is adjacent to a small public beach. The lot is largely deserted with only a few cars. He pulls the car into a parking space facing the water and cuts off the engine. Once the engine is off, the silence in the car is stifling.

It occurs to Steve that his heart is racing, and he has no recollection of when it started.

Now what?

He looks over at Emily. She is studying her hands as they rest in her lap.

"Em?"

It takes a while, but she eventually raises her head and meets his eyes. He notes that her eyes are damp again.

"I guess we should talk," he tells her with difficulty.

She bites her lower lip and he can see her throat working as she swallows. "What do you want to talk about?" she asks.

He thinks she's trying to keep her voice light, but he can hear her effort. "You're mad about what I said this morning."

She looks away from him. "Steven…" Her voice is a warning.

"What? You're not mad?" he challenges her.

She shakes her head. "No… I mean yes I was mad… but now…" She meets his eyes. "No, I'm not mad."

He nods slowly. "Then what are you thinking?" he asks.

He watches her swallow again and he can see that she's fighting to stay in control. She looks down.

Steve has to stifle a groan of frustration and he wraps his fingers around the steering wheel, digging his fingertips into the leather. He squeezes his eyes shut.

Damn it, just talk to me. Please.

He opens his eyes again and looks over at her. "Emily, I can't do this."

He can hear her inhale and exhale a breath. She nods her head again. "I know."

No, she doesn't know.

Steve opens his door and gets out of the car. He shuts the door, not slamming it, but none too gently either. He walks around the rear of the car, out of Emily's view. As he passes the window he can see her, still looking down. Her shoulders are shaking now and he thinks she's crying in earnest.

This hurts, good Lord, this hurts so much.

He finally reaches the passenger side door and opens it. Emily's head pops up to look at him. He was right, her cheeks are streaked with tears. Her eyes are wide with surprise.

The invisible hand that's been plaguing him for days is back to squeezing his heart and inciting chest pain again.

He extends his left arm in front of her, holding out his hand. His eyes stay on her face. "Come here," he says gently.

Her eyes stay on his, unwavering. Eventually she places her right hand in his left and lets Steve pull her out of the car. Her feet touch the ground and she stands up.

She has barely reached vertical when he pulls her body flush against his own. His arms wrap around her shoulders and his hands grip her back. He holds her close. Her entire body is trembling and shuddering.

She slips her own hands around his waist. As tightly as he is holding her, he can still feel the strength of her arms as they cling to him. She turns her face into his neck. He can feel her nose and mouth against his skin.

He moves one hand up from her shoulder to the back of her head, stroking her hair softly.

"It's okay baby. I'm here," he whispers. "I've got you."

She's still shaking but he can feel her nod her head a bit against his neck. They stand like that for a minute, with his hand slowly moving through her hair.

Just tell her, his brain is commanding, but he's having trouble getting the words out.

He eventually succeeds in sliding his hand from her hair to her cheek. He gently eases her face away from his neck, and tilts her head up with his thumb so that her eyes meet his.

It does register that her arms increase their grip on his waist in an attempt to keep him from pulling away. His heart is still racing.

He runs his thumb back and forth along her jaw line. Her eyes blink up at him and a small smile breaks over his face.

"Emmy…" he takes a deep breath and then exhales. "I love you."

Her eyes widen. Her body grows still in his arms.

"I don't want you to be with Jason. I want you with me. But I also want you to be happy and I don't know that I can…"

He stops in midsentence. With his last words Emily has quickly lifted her hand and laid it on his cheek.

His heart jumps into his throat and all the air is gone from his lungs. A smile creeps slowly across her beautiful face.

The sensation of joy that spreads through his body is physical.

Gaining confidence from her response, his words tumble out like a burst dam.

"I've lost so many people that I've cared about in my life, and I'm terrified of losing you too. And honestly, I can't imagine why anyone in their right mind would want to stay with me. But you need to know that I love you."

With a brief wave of horror, he watches as a fresh wave of tears spill over her lashes and onto her face. Thankfully the fear is only momentary, as her smile broadens and she takes the hand that had been resting on his cheek, and moves it to run her fingertips along the side of his face, from his temple to his neck.

His eyes drift closed and he lets himself enjoy the feeling of her nearness, of her warmth and the softness of her hand. Her hand keeps moving to the back of his neck. With a light pressure she tips his head toward hers till their foreheads touch. Her other arm is still resting around his waist. She increases the pressure of the hand on his lower back and he becomes quickly aware of all the places his body is pressed against hers. The feeling is amazing.

After a length of time, he's truly not even sure how long, he opens his eyes. He runs his thumb again along her cheek and moves it over to rest against her lips. Her eyes slowly open. Her gaze locks onto his and the corners of her mouth curl up. He lifts the hand away from her mouth, only abandoning it briefly. He leans in gently and touches his lips to hers in a kiss.

Her mouth is soft and sweet against his own. She holds the kiss lightly for a moment before pressing into him, teasing his lips lightly with her tongue. He opens his mouth and tastes her. She draws her mouth away from his with an intake of breath, before leaning in, lips parted, to kiss him again.

After what feels like forever, he breaks the kiss, but doesn't ease the grip of his hands on her body. He opens his eyes and watches till she opens hers. She stares up at him. He can feel his own mouth break out in what he is sure must be the biggest stupid grin, but he is beyond caring what he looks like as long as she's here with him. He wraps his arms around her back once more, and pulls her close. Her face rests again on his neck.

"One more time, please" she mumbles into his skin, and he can feel her smile against him. Her voice is quiet.

He tightens his arms slightly around her body, and leans down so that his mouth is closer to her ear. "I love you, baby."

She doesn't move, breathing evenly under his arms. After a moment, she kisses his neck. Her lips brush his skin gently for a brief instant, stopping and then kissing him again.

A low groan escapes his mouth. "Okay, I know you were mad at me, but you are really going to need to stop torturing me."

She giggles, still resting her mouth against his neck. A shiver runs down his spine. "Steven…" she says his name slowly. "I have not even begun to start torturing you yet." She leans back away from him and raises her eyes to meet his. "Trust me."

Her eyes are sparkling and mischievous, all traces of sadness banished.

"Mmm, is that a promise?" He leans down to kiss her again, but before he reaches her, she draws her head away. Her eyes flick away sideways to their left, then onto his face. His eyes contract in confusion. "What?"

Emily tilts her head more obviously to the left side, then up again. Steve swivels his head to look over to her left, his right. On the edge of the parking lot is a small boy dressed in bright green bathing suit and flip flops, dragging a towel behind along the concrete. The boy is standing still and staring at them.

Emily's shoulders starting shaking again, and a helpless laughter rises from her. Steve can feel his face flush. Emily only laughs harder. She increases the pressure of the hand on the back of his neck, drawing his head down to her own, but lifting on her tip toes to close the distance. She stops laughing just long enough to press her lips firmly against his. When she releases him, she giggles again. "This is what you get for doing this in public. It serves you right."

A woman's voice comes from the background in the direction of the water. The voice is calling a name. Steve turns to regard the little boy who has continued to stare at them. He gives the child a mock glare. "Hey kid, go find your Mom. I think she's looking for you."

The boy sticks out his bottom lip and scrunches his nose up to scowl back at Steve. The woman's voice is still calling in the background. Steve's watches the boy. He jerks his head in the direction of the voice. "Go!" he commands the kid. The boy's eyes widen. He spins around in a flurry and starts racing in the direction of what Steve presumes to be his mother.

Steve turns his attention back to Emily. She has stopped giggling, but her breath is still coming out in fits and starts. Her cheeks are pink and amusement is playing across her face. He stares at her and loses his breath all over again. He lifts his hand from where it is resting on her lower back and brushes a piece of hair off her forehead. She stares up at him almost shy, lost for a moment. Suddenly her eyes widen with shock. She looks over her shoulder into the car, searching for something. Her eyes lock back on his.

"Steve, the plane. What time is it? We need to go."

Steve swallows. The uncomfortable tightness has magically reappeared in his body. His eyes dart away from hers. "How about you miss the plane and stay with me?" He uses his arms to squeeze her a bit closer to his body.

Her mouth curves down. She shakes her head. "I can't."

This time it is Steve's turn to suck in a shaky breath. She's still leaving him.

She lifts her hand and places it back on his cheek. With a gentle pressure she turns his head till he's looking at her. His eyes shift back to hers. "I have things that I have to take care of."

He shakes his head. "Screw the DEA. They can wait. Reschedule for next week and I'll go with you."

"It's not the DEA that I'm going back to. Steven, what I have to handle, you can't be with me."

And just like that, they were right back to Jason again. She has to go home to him.

She hasn't taken her hand off his cheek, and her eyes are still locked on his. Their roles have reversed. She sounds assured and he's the one who feels broken.

"Sweetheart, you're going to have to trust me. Okay? If you want me, then I will come back to you. But I can't ignore this. I have to…" She looks away from him and shakes her head a little. "If not fix it, at least end it."

At last Steve manages to nod. "Okay. I know." Her eyes are pleading up at him. He leans in and gives her a quick peck on the lips, gently squeezes her waist, and then steps back away from her. "Let's go."

Steve turns to walk to his side of the car. Out of the corner of his eye, he can see Emily hesitate, watching him, before climbing into her seat and shutting the door. Once Steve is in the driver's seat with the door shut, he starts the car and turns it around to leave the parking lot.

* * *

><p>They have reached the airport and Emily has checked in for her flight. They've have just left the check in area and Steve is walking with her toward the security line. Her briefcase and purse are over her right shoulder. He is standing on her left. He shoots a quick glance in her direction. She's staring ahead, a somewhat vacant expression on her features. On impulse he reaches out and takes her left hand. She turns her head to look over at him in surprise. She smiles at him. He smiles shyly back at her. He squeezes her hand, and she threads her fingers through his. They walk like that, holding hands, till she reaches security.<p>

They both stop when the reach the entrance to the line. Neither speaks for a long moment.

Steve breaks the silence. "Well, I'll admit to being able to do many things. But getting past that security line and going to the gate with you, is not one of them."

Emily looks over at him. "Yeah, unfortunately I kind of knew that." She lets go of his hand and turns to face him. "Time to say goodbye I guess." Her head is cocked to one side. Her eyes are sad. As Steve watches her lower lip trembles a bit.

Steve nods quickly, "I'm going to go ahead and get out of here, before this gets any worse. Okay?" He's doing his best to hold it together, it isn't easy.

Emily steps forward into his arms. He closes his own around her, holding her tightly. "I'll see you soon." He can feel Emily nod.

"Yes you will." He eases his grip on her and she steps back. "Good bye Steve. Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome." His eyes are on his face. She gives him a quick, pained smile.

At last she turns around and enters the security line.

Steve takes a few steps backward, out of the way of the crowds. He feels awkward and hurting, but he doesn't want to leave till she's out of sight. Her back is to him and he can't see her face.

* * *

><p>Emily is standing in the security line at the Honolulu Airport. She has made a point of facing away from Steve, in the hopes of making this leaving easier.<p>

She had thought that getting out of his building had been hard. But that turned out to be a picnic compared to the last hour or so with Steve.

He loves you. He actually said that he loves you. Her brain is running on repeat and her heart is thundering in her chest. She's trying to think back and remember the last time she'd heard Steve utter those words, at least when they were directed at her. To be honest, it's been so long, she's not sure if she remembers.

The look on his face, in his eyes, when he realized that she was still getting on this plane, she saw fear there. She's slowly ambling forward in the security line and wonders if he is still watching her. She sneaks a look back over her shoulder. He's standing against the wall, away from the crowds. He's staring at the carpet. He looks lost.

Her emotion hits her all at once, and she sways on her feet. She takes another step forward in the line, but can't seem to stop watching him.

Emily, do something. You need to do something.

"Oh my God."

She says this quietly to herself, but the woman behind her in line gives her a bit of a confused look. Emily looks at the woman. "Excuse me." She brushes past the woman, and then another passenger, and another, till she makes her way out of the line. As she moves back through the line she feels worse and worse. She's not confident that she isn't going to be sick if she doesn't get back to him. Finally she reaches the end of the ropes, and the people.

She looks up and Steve is watching her, his eyes stricken. She feels like she can't breathe and she breaks into a flat out run, her bags hitting her in the side the whole way.

At last she reaches him. She drops her bags at her feet. His eyes are still on his face, confused.

"Emmy?" he asks, concerned.

She is standing right in front of him, almost touching. She lifts up on her tip toes for the second time today, and touches her lips to his. For a moment he's frozen in shock. She holds the kiss and then releases him, dropping back down to stand flat.

The air has returned to her lungs and she can breathe again. She smiles up at him and lifts her hand to his cheek. She can hear his breathing coming out in quick bursts. She searches his eyes and they are better than they were a minute ago. Solid and grounded.

She runs her thumb softly back and forth across his cheek. She can feel her smile widening as if her face would split. Her eyes are locked on his.

"Steven McGarrett. I love you."

She can hear his sharp intake of breath and his eyes widen. She slides her hand to the back of his neck, and pulls him down for another kiss. Her lips touch his, and she shivers down to her toes. She presses her mouth against his, moving gently, before breaking away. His eyes slowly open.

"I have to go now, okay?"

He doesn't give any motion or reaction for a good thirty seconds just staring at her in childlike wonder, but finally he nods that he understands. She smiles up at him.

She reaches down to grab her bags and place them back on her shoulder. She starts making her way back into the security line. She steals the occasional look back at him, still standing there. She is enjoying the smile that is still fixed on his face.

She finally reaches the front of the line. She goes through all the necessary machinations to get through the scanners, to the other side, and collects her things.

She turns back a last time. He is still standing on the other side of the room, still watching her and smiling. She gives him a small wave which he returns, before she turns and walks down the hallway, out of view.

* * *

><p>She loves me. She said she loves me. His heart feels like it's about to leap out of his chest. He watches as Emily turns to give him a small wave. He waves back at her. She turns and walks out of view.<p>

Eventually he shakes his head to clear it. He turns and starts walking back to where he had parked his car.

He can't shake the words out his head.

She loves me.

He continues to make his way back to the car and he's smiling the entire time.


	14. Chapter 14

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Thank you to all that are reading my story and thank you to those who have left reviews. It's been a huge encouragement to me. This chapter is a short one. Hope you like.

* * *

><p>Danny Williams is exiting his office in 5-0 headquarters, in search of Chin. He needs to ask him a question related to a case, some paperwork that needs to be filled out. As he leaves his office, he glances over toward Steve. He can see Steve sitting at the desk in his own office, talking on the phone.<p>

It's been a quiet three days since Emily Burns took her flight back to Los Angeles. Danny has not convinced Steve to tell him anything about what went on when Steve caught up to Emily before her flight. This lack of information is annoying. Expected, but annoying nonetheless. Danny has at least been able to figure out that whatever happened, it had to have been pretty good. In the few years that he's known Steve, he's never seen him in as good a mood as the last few days. He's been smiling, often actually, which is outright strange.

The meth distribution case has gone nowhere. They haven't been able to find the two men identified as leaving the warehouse. Nor have they located any additional meth. But at least the drug importation has been stopped. He guesses they can take some comfort that they accomplished something in that regard. Also, the District Attorney's office has all of the evidence for Emily's attack and will be prosecuting John Lincoln. So that's another victory.

He's standing in the middle of the empty 5-0 headquarters, empty save for Steve still in his office, when the glass entrance doors open. Through the doors walk Chin and another unidentified man. From what Danny can see, this other man is in his early to mid-thirties, above average height with brown hair, dressed in slacks and a button down shirt with a tie. He supposes the man would be classified as handsome, if he were in the habit of classifying men in those terms, which he's not. Lawyer or something along those lines Danny assumes based on his appearance. His clothing looks too expensive to be a cop.

Chin is crossing the office with the stranger close behind him. When he stops near Danny, Chin turns to the man and points in the direction of Steve's office. "You'll find him in there," Chin says.

The man looks toward Steve, then back at Danny and Chin. "Thanks for your help," he tells them. Chin nods back and the man starts walking toward Steve's office.

Danny watches him walk away and then turns his attention to Chin. He hooks a thumb over his shoulder. "Who was that?" he asks.

Chin shrugs, "He was downstairs at the front desk asking for Steve. They were going to call up here, but I said I'd walk him upstairs. Jason something or other, last name began with a T. Said he was a friend of a friend and needed to talk to Steve."

"Hmm… okay." Danny looks over towards Steve's office and watches as Jason something or other opens the door and goes in. Danny can see Steve getting up from his desk and walking around it.

Danny looks back over at Chin, and his eyebrows narrow trying to work out a puzzle.

"What?" Chin asks him.

Danny looks over at the office again. Steve has held out his hand to the stranger in his office, offering to shake it Danny thinks. "What was the name of Emily's boyfriend in L.A. again? Wasn't that guy's name Jason?"

Chin's eyes widen a little but he shakes his head. "Okay, yeah it was, but you don't think that guy would get on a plane and…"

At that moment Danny and Chin turn to watch the interaction in Steve's office. As they're watching the stranger named Jason halls off and clocks Steve, cocking his right arm back and releasing so that his right fist connects with Steve's jaw. They can see Steve stumble backward. Danny and Chin are both in motion, running full speed toward Steve.

Oh shit, this guy obviously has a death wish, is Danny's first thought.

Chin flings open the office door and flies through it. Danny is close behind him. Chin moves rapidly to block Jason, standing in front of him with both hands on Jason's chest. Danny directs his energies toward Steve.

Surprisingly Steve has not responded by pummeling the crap out of his attacker, an action which Danny knows full well Steve is very capable. Steve has just taken a step back from Jason, leaning back against his desk. He is rubbing his jaw with his left hand.

Yeah, I bet that hurt.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Let's calm down now," Chin is telling Jason. From the glances Chin has shot in Steve's direction, he must also be waiting for Steve to explode on the guy and is wondering why it hasn't happened.

Maybe it's a delayed reaction thing? Danny turns his head toward Jason then back toward Steve. Jason is glaring silently in Steve's direction, but has made no move toward further violence.

Steve is shaking head, and raises his right hand toward Jason. "Hey man, look, I understand you're pissed. I get it. I would be too, but I didn't twist her arm."

Danny draws his head back a little to regard Steve suspiciously. "Twist her arm to what exactly?"

Steve's eyes narrow in Danny's direction before he locks back in on Jason.

"This isn't about her sleeping with you," Jason tells him.

Okay, now he has Danny's full attention. He raises his eyebrows at Steve in question.

Steve's eyes flick over to Danny.

"Did you…?" Danny starts.

"No…" Steve tells him quietly. "Well, I mean yes… but no…."

Danny shakes his head, confused. "Excuse me?"

Steve is looking back at Jason. "So what is this about then?"

Danny can see the muscles in Jason's throat working as he swallows. He looks away from them out the window. Chin is still standing nearby. Danny guesses that this is in case Jason has a change of heart and decides to launch himself back at Steve.

Jason's eyes are back on Steve's face. His face is less angry now, more sad. "She deserves better than to have you break her heart again."

This time Danny can see Steve take in a breath and let it out. He looks down at the floor of his office for a long moment.

Eventually he raises his eyes back to meet Jason's. "I know she does," Steve tells him.

Jason regards Steve silently for another minute. At last he nods his head, as if satisfied with something. He gives a look to Chin, who backs out of his way, but is still blocking his access to Steve. With a last glance in Danny and Steve's direction, Jason turns and leaves the office.

Danny and Chin watch Jason as he keeps walking, straight out through the doors, leaving headquarters. They then turn their attention toward Steve.

Steve is still staring out towards the glass doors.

"Well yes… but no?" Danny parrots back to Steve. "What does that mean?"

Steve's eyes dart back towards Danny briefly. "What… what was that?"

"Did you sleep with her?" Danny asks loudly and slowly.

Steve turns his head to stare at Danny. "Seriously? That's what you want to know right now? Really?"

Danny takes a step back and raises both hands, palms facing Steve. "Hey, that guy," Danny points out toward where Jason had exited, "got on a plane, and took a long flight, all for the pleasure of punching you. And not that I don't understand the temptation to do so, but please tell me that you at least got something out of it."

Steve is just staring at Danny in irritation. Danny can hear Chin give a small chuckle, and looks over in his direction then back at Steve. "See, Chin agrees with me."

"Hey man," Chin interjects, "leave me out of this." But he's still laughing a little. "You want some ice for that jaw?" Chin asks Steve.

Steve scrunches his face then flexes his jaw open, as if testing it. A loud crack can be heard as he does so. He shakes his head a little. "No, that's okay," Steve responds. "I'll live."

"Yeah right, Mr. Tough guy, of course," Danny says then looks over at Chin but doesn't say anything. Chin nods back at Danny.

"I'm going to get you some anyway," Chin tells Steve before leaving the office.

Danny continues to stare at Steve without speaking. Finally Steve rolls his eyes and looks back at Danny. "No I didn't sleep with her okay. We slept together, as in slept, unconscious but nothing happened," Steve tells him. "And why the hell are you of all people giving me shit about it? Really?"

"I'm not giving you shit." Danny responds. "I'm just surprised actually. Why didn't you?"

"What do you mean why?" Steve gestures with his right hand. "Because of her boyfriend with the temper, that's why."

Danny smirks at Steve. "Temper? Honestly? You're going to criticize other people for their tempers?" He raises an eyebrow.

Steve looks back at Danny, and manages a small smile. "Hey, I didn't hit him back did I?"

Danny shrugs his shoulders, he has to concede Steve's point there.

Steve reaches into his pocket to pull out his cell phone. He looks up at Danny. "Do you mind?" He flicks his eyes toward the door.

Danny laughs, "Oh hell no. I want to hear this."

Steve shakes his head, but continues to punch the phone's screen. He lifts the phone to his ear and waits, not looking at Danny.

"Hey Em? It's Steve."

A pause while she responds to him.

"Yeah, I know. We can still talk tonight, I just needed to ask a quick question." Steve's eyes flick over to Danny then away. "Did you talk to Jason yet?"

Steve waits, then nods his head.

"And what did you say?"

Danny cannot hear Emily's answer, but he can guess at the gist of it based on the small smile that has broken over Steve's face. He looks relieved.

"Okay, well that explains the visitor I just had then."

Another pause.

"Jason paid me a little visit…. Yes he's in Hawaii…. Well I guess he decided to get on a plane and come see me…" Danny can only laugh at Steve trying to keep up with Emily's questions. "Well he didn't say very much." Steve shifts from his left to his right foot, looking uncomfortable. "He just hit me."

"What? Why?" Steve sighs, "Yes hold on, he's right here."

Steve holds the phone out towards Danny. "She would like to talk to you."

"Me?" Danny asks pointing to himself. Steve shrugs and nods, but he doesn't look bothered. "Umm, okay." He reaches out and takes the phone from Steve and raises it to his ear. "Hello Emily, how are you today?"

"I was doing pretty well until a few minutes ago. Is Steve okay?" Danny can hear a hint of anxiety in her voice.

Danny glances over at Steve who is watching him intently. "Yeah, I think he'll be okay. That Jason of yours didn't look like he could throw much of a punch."

Danny can hear her sigh in relief through the phone. "And Jason? Did Steve hurt him?"

Danny laughs at her question. Steve's eyebrows narrow in irritation. "What?"

"He was fine when he left. Believe it or not, Steve didn't hit him back." Danny tells her.

Steve throws his eyes up to the ceiling and lets out a groan. "Why does everyone think I'm a lunatic attack dog? He hit me…. "

"Really?" Emily's voice is surprised. "Alright well, thanks Danny. Can you put him back on?"

"Sure, no problem." Danny tells her. "You take care of yourself."

"I will Danny, you too," she responds.

Danny hands the phone back to Steve who takes it looking grateful and raises it to his ear.

"See, everyone's fine. Feel better now?" Steve asks into the phone, amused.

Danny catches Steve's eye, and tilts his head back toward the door indicating that he's going to leave now. Steve gives him a quick nod that he understands and mouths the word thanks.

Danny smiles back at him. "Any time." He turns and heads toward the door. As he grabs the handle to push the door open he can still hear Steve talking to Emily.

"Yeah babe, I know. I need to get out there and see you. Sooner rather than later, okay?"

Danny chuckles under his breath and the door swings shut behind him.


	15. Chapter 15

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own "Hawaii Five-0" or any of the characters. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** Much love to all who've read this story. Hope you liked it and enjoy this chapter.

As always, please leave a **review**. :)

* * *

><p>Steve is standing in the kitchen, in front of the refrigerator. The door is open and he is appraising its contents. He shakes his head. Not too much to work with. After considering, he settles on eggs and removes a carton, placing it on the countertop. He turns to look around at the cabinets. If he can manage to find a frying pan along with salt and pepper shakers, he'll be all set.<p>

It's got to be here somewhere, he thinks, running his eyes across the room.

He is still standing, trying to figure out where the items he needs are hidden, when his attention is jolted by the sensation of two hands gliding across his midsection from behind. A light smile plays on his lips as arms wrap around his waist, and he can feel the warmth of a body against his back.

"I was trying not to wake you up," he says. As he speaks he takes his right hand and threads his fingers through the fingers of the foreign hand now resting on his stomach.

"I know you were. You didn't wake me," Emily responds from behind him. She squeezes her arms tightly around him, and he can feel her cheek pressing into his shoulder blade. "I just woke up and you were gone. I wanted to see what you were up to."

He takes both her hands in his own and loosens her grip on his waist just enough to turn around so that he's facing her. He slips his own arms around her, his fingers resting lightly on her back. She tilts her head up so that she's looking at him. His heart catches in his throat when he sees her face. It still feels like it can't be real that he's actually here with her.

After a long moment he recovers his senses enough to speak. "I was attempting to make breakfast," he tells her.

Her eyes narrow. "You're going to cook?"

"Hey" he laughs in mock indignation, "I can manage a few things."

A smile breaks across her face.

"It's just a good thing that what I can make happens to be what you have in there," he continues. "Are you still subsisting on take out?" he asks her.

She shakes her head and pulls her eyes away from his face. "No, I'm not." She starts laughing but he can tell he's not far off the mark. "It's been a busy couple of weeks. I haven't been home."

His chest tightens as he remembers why it is she's been so busy. She's been working with the DEA on their investigation into her old friends the Baja cartel and their drug importation through Richardson Wine Imports. Because of her experience prosecuting the cartel in San Diego, along with her recent brief glimpse into Richardson's operations, he knows she's been an asset to them.

He nods his head a little. "Mm-hmm," he mutters as his eyes shift off her face to the wall behind her.

"Steven." Her voice is firm and insistent.

His eyes shift back to her face.

Her expression has morphed a bit. There's concern written on her features. She stares at him silently before she finally manages to tell him what she's thinking. "Look, I know that you're not happy with me helping the DEA…" she pauses to bite her lip, "but they asked me to assist them, and I want to do it." Her eyes lock on his and he can see she wants to hear him say that he understands.

After a hesitation he finally nods his head. Yeah I get it, I don't like it, but I get it, he thinks. He can see her face lose some of its tension.

"You said you could handle it," she reminds him. She is stroking his back with her fingertips as she's gazing up at him.

Yes, he is aware he had said he could deal with her doing a riskier job, he just wished she wasn't so hell bent on holding him to it. But then again, considering what he is going to ask of her, he is in no position to argue the point.

Her brows furrow. "What is it?" she asks.

He realizes that he is staring at her and hasn't responded to her previous statement.

"No, you're right. I can handle it," he reassures her. He lifts his left hand to her face, cupping her chin and running his thumb over her cheek.

Her cheeks turn pink as he touches her face. He can't help it, he loves her reaction.

She clears her throat. "Your problem is you can dish it out but you can't take it," she tells him.

He cocks his head to the side a little. "In what way?"

She hugs him a little closer and moves her face nearer to his own. "It's okay for me to worry about you, but you don't like having to worry about me."

He laughs a little under his breath and looks away from her. Again she has a point.

He turns his gaze back to her face, but it quickly drops, landing on the scar on her neck. She is no longer covering it with gauze and it keeps drawing his attention. It isn't quite the angry red gash it had been, but it is still very far from gone, and he suspects she will always have a scar.

He runs his hand down to touch the scar with his fingers, taking care to skim over it lightly and not hurt her. She still lets out a quick, barely audible, gasp.

He doesn't think he's capable of not worrying about her.

An impulse sweeps through him and he leans down and touches his lips gently to the scar on her neck. He can feel her throat move as she swallows, reacting to him. His face hovers near her for a moment, aware of how still the rest of her has become. He moves to the other side of her neck. He kisses it softly at first, running his mouth over her skin. He can feel her pull in a deep shaky breath. He parts his lips, kisses her again, letting his tongue run over her throat this time. Emily lets out a groan and flexes her hand flat against his back.

"I thought you were making food?" She manages to mumble weakly through halting breaths.

He moves again and kisses her jaw line, just under her ear. "Mm…." a sound escapes her.

"That was before you woke up," he whispers.

"Yes well…" he places another kiss on her neck. "Umm, oh God," she murmurs and he smiles against her skin. "I probably should have stayed asleep," she continues. "I didn't really get much sleep last night."

"Is that right?" He speaks with his mouth near her ear. "Was there something wrong?" He runs his hand from where it is resting on her back, down beneath her extremely short night shirt. It lands on her rear end.

She giggles. "Nope, nothing wrong, just someone was apparently not interested in sleep."

He uses the hand on her bottom to pull her flush against his own body. "Hey, I told you that I missed you."

"And you know, I think I noticed that you missed me, several times in fact." She answers him with a sexy laugh.

His face is directly in front on her now with his mouth only inches from hers. She leans up and meets his mouth with a deep kiss, holding it for a long moment. When she breaks away, she keeps her eyes on his. The corner of her mouth curls up.

"Wanna show me again how much you missed me?" Her eyes flash as she teases him suggestively.

Suddenly all the air is gone from his lungs and desire shoots through his body. He freezes for a short interval, his eyes still fixed on hers. When his brain finally catches up to the rest of his body, he sweeps his arm down behind her knees and scoops her off of her feet in one swift motion, lifting her into his arms.

She giggles again and wraps her arms around his neck, leaning into him and brushing her lips against his. "I'll take that as a yes," she mumbles with her mouth still touching his.

He manages a quick nod of his head. "Yes, that's definitely a yes," he tells her, breathless.

He carries her in his arms out of the kitchen, down the hallway to her bedroom.

* * *

><p>He breaks the kiss and pulls his mouth away from hers. He moves so slowly that it takes her a few seconds to realize what is happening. She strains her neck upward and tightens her grip on his back for an instant to keep him from going. But still he keeps moving away. Her eyes pop open and lock onto his, and a swoosh of butterflies flood down inside her stomach. He smiles a little at her before dropping his head down onto the pillow near her own. She can feel his lips softly graze her shoulder.<p>

She slides her hand from where it is resting on his back, up to his head, her fingers stroking his hair. She can feel his chest move as he inhales and exhales a deep breath. His hand had been resting on the bed but it returns to her hip, trailing down over her bare skin to stop on her thigh. He wraps his hand around the back of her leg, and pulls her closer against his body.

"I think we have a problem," he tells her quietly.

"Hmm?" she murmurs, distracted by the sensation of his weight pressing into her. She doesn't mind it.  
>"And that would be?" she finally says.<p>

"I don't want to leave you." As he speaks his mouth is still near her shoulder and his breath tickles her skin.

A smile breaks over her face. "I'm failing to see how this is a problem." She tips her head to the side to kiss him on the temple. "I'm pretty happy right now actually, so I don't really want you to leave."

She can feel his chest expand and contract again as he lets out another deep breath. He doesn't say anything.

She has had the suspicion since he arrived yesterday that something is bothering him, but she hasn't had the courage to address it yet. She hadn't wanted to ruin this unexpected visit that started with his phone call asking if he could come see her, and continued with him showing up at her apartment door less than twenty-four hours later.

She burrows her head into his neck, snuggling closer to him. Letting her hand slide down again, she curls her fingers into the muscles of his back. He responds by squeezing her thigh with his hand and she smiles.

For a short while after he arrived yesterday they were back to feeling awkward and uncomfortable. All the rushed words and emotions from the airport and from subsequent phone calls weighed heavily in the air. She'd been babbling, trying to fill the space between them with words. Asking about the flight, asking how the team back in Hawaii was doing.

They'd gone out to dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant and conversation had flowed more smoothly, aided by several margaritas for her, and a few beers for him. They had avoided all the time bombs of topics, including her intention to get back to work that he considered dangerous. She in turn had resisted the temptation to give him the third degree about how his work had almost gotten him killed over the last few years.

By the end of the meal they were laughing and teasing each other. It was easy to remember how good she felt just being near him, how at ease. As they were finally getting up to leave the restaurant he'd taken her hand to help her out of the booth, the two particularly large and strong margaritas having their impact. She'd stumbled a bit and he'd reached out to steady her with one hand on her arm and the other on her lower back. She had turned her eyes up to look at him and had frozen. He'd been staring down at her intently, a hint of amusement and something else, fixed on his face.

He'd driven them back to her apartment and once they were inside she'd headed straight for the kitchen, filled with a nervous energy and announcing her intention to get a drink of water. She had actually made it as far as filling a glass from the faucet and finishing half of it before Steve came up behind her. He had placed his left hand on her waist and had used his right hand to pull her hair off of the back of her neck before kissing it, the feeling of his mouth on her skin shooting sparks through her whole body.

It wasn't a hard decision. She had put down her glass and turned to face him, running her arms up around his neck. It was pretty much either that or tip over since she had gone completely weak in the knees, only partly from the alcohol.

They had ended up fairly quickly wrapped up together in her bedroom. As she had reminded Steve a little while ago, they did not get much sleep last night. Not that she was objecting. She has to admit there was as much encouragement from her direction as from his in that department.

It was just that now, unfortunately, it was hitting her with a quiet stab that she needs to address whatever it is he's not telling her.

She squeezes her eyes shut and swallows thickly. "Steve… What's going on?"

He doesn't say respond right away, which in her mind means she's probably on to something.

"Umm what….that I needed to see you?" he finally asks.

"Mm, uh-huh." Alright, she'd be lying if she said his choice of the word _needed_ didn't make her feel at least a little bit better. "And I needed to see you too, so I'm glad we agree on that part," she tells him. "But what else is going on?"

There's another silence from Steve. He hasn't moved yet, his body is still pressing into hers and his hand is still on her leg. He kisses her shoulder gently again.

Emily smiles a little. It's not that she isn't enjoying the kisses, but she'd still like him to talk to her. "Look it's okay, I know you can't stay. I know you have to go," she says.

"Yeah, about that…" he begins but trails off.

Now she's confused. "About what? Going back to Hawaii?

He finally shifts his body back away from her. He rolls onto his left side and props his head up on his hand by resting his elbow on the mattress. He looks down at her but leaves his right hand resting on the bare skin of her stomach. She's grateful for his continued touch. She'd be more worried if he pulled away from her completely.

His eyes meet hers. "I'm not going back to Hawaii right now."

"You're not?" This is news to her. "Where are you going?"

Steve exhales a breath and his eyes jump away from her before returning. "You said that Kono had told you a few of the problems I've had over the past year? Stuff with work?"

Her stomach does a nasty turn. "Hmm, let me think." She tries to play off her fears lightly. "Oh yes, would you be referring to the whole going to prison situation? Or was it the being kidnapped and tortured thing you want to tell me about?" She places her hand over the one he is currently still resting on her. She runs her thumb over the back of his hand.

From the way he's watching her and the expression on his face, she gets the impression he's not fooled by her light tone.

"Yes, they're related to this," he nods. "And believe me when I say I don't want to tell you anything about those situations, because the thought of you getting anywhere near all of this scares the hell out of me."

"Getting near what? What scares you?" She's feeling more than a little alarmed now.

"You remember Joe White?" he asks her.

"You're Commanding Officer? Yes of course. What about him?"

"He's been lying to me, about a contact named Shelburn. It has to do with my father's murder, and possibly my mother's."

"Your mother's murder? I thought she died in an accident."

She can see the muscles in this throat move as he swallows and he shakes his head. His whole demeanor has changed. He's suddenly tense and angry. "Yeah, maybe not." He's silent for a moment before he continues. "The thing is, all of this has to do with an extremely dangerous man named Wo Fat." Steve's eyes are on her face now. "Em… I cannot even begin to describe how evil this guy is, all the things he's done, the things he's done to me personally. I have to find out why Joe lied to me, and his connection to Wo Fat."

Emily stares up at him for a moment before shaking her head. "Steve, you have to go. I understand," she tells him.

"Do you?" he asks, and she can hear the undercurrent of fear in his voice.

Her eyes soften and she leans up, kissing him and letting her mouth linger against his. When she drops back down to the pillow she opens her eyes and he's looking at her, a bit sad. "Of course I do. Anyone would want answers, and you can't move on with your life till you get them." She lifts her hand and brushes it over his cheek. "Hey, I knew what I signed up for when I told you I loved you, but I meant it. I will still be here when you get back."

She can see the relief flood his face and he exhales a breath. She smiles up at him in reassurance. He shifts down again bringing himself closer towards her. His right arm comes up to cradle the back of her head in his hand. He touches his forehead to hers and as she watches, his eyes drift shut.

"Maybe someday things will calm down a little and we can have something approaching a normal relationship," she tells him.

"Maybe someday we can have a relationship where you move to Hawaii?" He hasn't opened his eyes but his voice is hopeful.

"You want me to move to Hawaii?" Her voice squeaks out in surprise.

His eyes open, his face is only inches from hers. "I want you to be with me, and right now, that's in Hawaii, yes."

She can only stare at him without moving, holding her breath. Eventually she closes the distance between them quickly and presses her lips into his, holding the kiss. After a hesitation his mouth moves against hers and he kisses her back, rolling her onto her back and pressing her down into the pillow. The weight of his body drops back down onto her. When he breaks the kiss she is completely breathless.

He's looking at her. "Is that a yes?" He asks.

"Steve…"

His face falls a little. "It's not a yes is it?"

She reaches up to stroke his cheek with her hand. "It isn't a no…. it's just a not right now, because right now you're going off on a mission, and I have work to do here." She pauses watching him. He's not looking at her. "Why don't we focus on getting you back in one piece, and we'll talk when you get home okay?" She's trying to will him to understand her.

He nods his head a bit, still staring off into the distance. Fear leaps up into her throat over his response. Finally he turns back to look at her, he nods again. "Okay, yes. I can live with that." He leans down again and kisses her before dropping his head back to her shoulder again.

They are silent for a minute, wrapped up together, and she listens to the sound of his breathing.

"What does Danny say about all this?" she finally says.

"Yeah, he doesn't know I'm going. I left him a note." Steve voice comes out muffled as his face is still touching her shoulder.

Emily shakes her head a little, doing a double take. "You left him a note? Are you kidding? He's going to freak out on you."

Steve lifts up again so that he can see her. "Look, I know that, but he won't want me to go and do this alone," he defends himself. "And I can't jeopardize his life by dragging him into it any further. He has his daughter to worry about. And besides, I kind of need him to stay in Hawaii and hold down the fort."

"So I take it that this is not going to be a quick or simple proposition?" she asks quietly.

"It's not," he finally says. "I could be gone weeks, or it could be months. I just don't know. I'd like to say that I'd call but…

"Steve, I know."

He takes his hand and runs it over her forehead, brushing some hair off of her face. "If you need anything, if you are in any sort of trouble, call Danny okay? I don't care if he is in Hawaii and you're in L.A. He can help."

"Okay," she nods at him.

His eyes are locked on her face. She gets the feeling he doesn't believe her. "I mean it Em, promise me."

"I promise, really I do…" she tells him. "What about if something happens to…" Her voice catches and she doesn't finish her thought.

"They'll get in touch with Danny, and he will call you," he tells her softly.

She nods and her eyes move off his face.

"Em, I'm coming back."

She looks back at him and exhales a short breath. She gives him another quick nod. He leans down and gives her a gentle kiss.

When he leans back, she narrows her eyes. "Wait, so where are you going then?"

"Umm… yeah…" he doesn't finish his thought.

"You can't tell me can you?" she asks.

"Not really. It would be safer if you didn't know very much."

"When are you leaving?"

His eyes are on her face and he doesn't speak.

"It's today isn't it?"

He shuts his eyes and tips his forehead down to touch hers. "This afternoon, I need to get back to LAX for a flight this afternoon."

There's a pain in her stomach that can't be escaped. She tightens her arms around his back, hugging him closer to her.

"Hey," she says after a minute.

He opens his eyes and lifts his head up to look at her.

"We should get out of bed and go get some breakfast okay?" she tells him.

He smiles at her. "What, you don't want me to cook?"

She bites her lip and shakes her head. "No, I don't want you to cook," she laughs.

"Then I'm going to go get in the shower, so we can get out of here." he tells her.

"Yep, sounds good," she nods.

After a quick peck on the lips, he rolls out of bed away from her. She lays there, pulls the sheet up over her chest, staring at his back. He just sits there a short while without getting up. He eventually turns his head over his shoulder and reaches out to take her hand from where it is resting on the bed. He gives it a few little tugs. His eyes reach hers and he's smirking a little. "You coming with me?"

She just continues to stare at him without reacting. She lets a smile break over her face, and she laughs. "Yes, I'm coming."

He stands up, turning to face her. She scoots out of bed after him, letting him take both her hands to help her stand up. He pulls her close by wrapping his arms around her back, and gives her another kiss. "I love you, babe."

She turns her face up to look at him. "I love you too."

He lets go of her but keeps hold of one hand, and they walk toward the shower.


	16. Chapter 16 Epilogue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own Hawaii 5-0 or it's characters. Everything you recognize from the show is property of their respective owners. Emily Burns is my OC.

**Author's Note:** And so we reach the end of this story. Thank you for reading. I hope it was as much fun to read as it was for me to write.

**If you read this story, and you liked it, and if you would like to read another Emily and Steve story at some point in the future, please tell me in the comments.** **:) I'd love to continue with these characters at some point.**

* * *

><p><strong>Epilogue<strong>

Steve turns his head to look out the window. The plane seems to have leveled off. The night sky outside is clear and there isn't a cloud in sight. Far below him is the Pacific Ocean. Behind him somewhere is Los Angeles and Emily. And somewhere out in the big blue ocean is the island of Hawaii, and thus his partner Danny, along with Kono, Chin, and the other sundry people he's met and come to care about in the last two years.

And for some reason that is hard to put his finger on and define, he's leaving all of those people behind to fend for themselves.

Part of him knows that yes, it's true, he won't be of use to any of them until he finds answers to his questions. But it doesn't completely erase his sense of obligation to them, or his guilt.

He's also afraid that just as with so many times in the past, each answer will only generate new questions. He feels like he's been searching for answers for so long, that it feels like he doesn't know how to do anything else.

It's just so hard to move on and focus on the good things in his life until he can clearly see what's happened in his past. He wants to put his energy into the 5-0 team, into backing them up and being the boss they need him to be.

And then there's Emily. He thought he'd lost her for good, and then she showed up on his doorstep. And what he thought was lost had really been there all the time. He'd just been too blind to see it. He doesn't want to tempt fate by taking her for granted again, and thus risk truly losing her permanently. He can see a future with her. Hell, he wants a future with her, and to say that he's even contemplating the road ahead is quite a big deal for him. It's not something he's used to.

But always, the unanswered questions in his life stop him, interrupt him and demand his attention. For so many years he had thought the answer was in catching Victor Hess. If he could just catch him it would all be over.

Only Victor's dead now. And still it is far from over. Now it's Wo Fat he's chasing.

And what if catching Wo Fat doesn't end it? He suspects it won't. That it will only generate new questions.

He had told Jason that he wouldn't break Emily's heart. He doesn't want to. It's just that with all these questions to answer, he's not sure how to keep his promise.

Steve looks out the window again and tries to put all these thoughts and fears out of his mind. The people in his life deserve his attention, but he doesn't have it to give them right now. All he can do is hope that they won't do what so many of the people in his past that have every meant something to him have done….disappear while he's not looking.

As Steve stares out the window he can see a full moon far above. It fills the night sky, bouncing its light off of everything it touches. He can only hope the people in his life that he loves are as constant to him, and he to them in turn.


End file.
